Act Like You Know It
by CarefulWhatUWish4
Summary: 6th year...new characters...fun times...snog sessions...old friends...new fights...a kidnapping...skip to third chapter if you actually want a good story...i realized too late that the second chapter is one of the WORST fluffy fics EVER, but it has a lot
1. Who names their kid Florence?

skip to third chapter if you actually want a good story...i realized too late that the second chapter is one of the WORST fluffy fics EVER, but it has a lot of info, so skip two and if you care about background info that might be vital to know later then go back and read #2. thanks

Disclaimer: why would JKR be writing fanfiction? I, personally, am not under the false impression that I am J. K. Rowling, therefore I do not own anything that may seem familiar to you.

**Chapter one**

After all Harry Potter and his best friends had been through together in ther first five years at Hogwarts they always knew they'd come out on top. All but once. They had made one fatal mistake.

And due to that they were lying side by side, Harry in the middle, tied up by invisible ropes in a mansion in Little Hangleton, on top of a large table. It was a nice table,solid oak, decorated in a faded silk tablecloth that looked as if it hadn't been touched in years, because it hadn't. The dusk that lay on that bed was so thick that all three of them would be sneezing like mad if they weren't scared to death at the most evil wizard that ever existed, who happened to be standing by their feet at the end of the table.

He stood casually, as if this was any other day, but it wasn't, today was the day he has the chance, maybe his last chance, to kill the boy who lived. This one really was a chance though, Voldemort's intricate plan had fallen apart at the seams, but thanks to a broken leg on the part of the mudblood girl, the heroic teenagers lay in front of him, on his father's old dining room table, awaiting their dooms.

He stood at the end of the table by their feet carefully twirling his wand between his long, pale index fingers. He had a dark hood over his face so that they couldn't veiw it's features. "You know this is the very same room as I killed my dear father in, don't you Harry? This is the same way he died, helpless, afraid, weak...but don't be ashamed, by the time you are gone, Harry, none of those who are close to you will be alive to hear the tale." He placed a hand on either side of the hood, preparing to pull it back, when there came a knock on the door. He turned in the direction of the door, puzzled, and held his wand at the ready. He gave it a flick at the door flew open.

Standing in the doorway, holding one hand to her head dizzily, the other pushed against the doorframe for support, was a girl. Harry had seen her before, around Hogwarts, never spoken to her, she was a Griffindor, she always seemed so involved in her studies that no one really knew her though. Harry subtley turned his head either way to see his friends reactions. Ron looked stunned, his eyes wide, Hermione looked puzzled and slowly looked at him and mouthed the word, "Crystal?" harry gave her a confused glance and turned back to the doorway where she stood. She wore a blue sweater, and blue jeans. Her hair was a dark brown and pulled back into a sloppy ponytail at the back of her head. She was average height, about five and a half feet, and looked a bit tipsy.

She opened her mouth as if to speak closed it and tried again, "Could I use your toilet?" she asked making everyone in the room even more confused, "Sorry to just come in but the door was open and i really couldn't find anywhere else at this time of night." She waited for a response. None came.

"Wait, wait...are you?" she started staring at Voldemort a look of comprehension dawning over her, "The Dark Lord?" She quickly dropped to her knees clumsily and bowed before him. After a few seconds she stood up, wobbled a bit, stabled herself on the door frame again, and spoke. "I am Florence Collington. I-I can't beleive I am meeting you at last. My whole family, HUGE fans. My great-grandfather was a dictator, you know? His name was Adolf Hitler. Supreme man, not to be compared to you of course," Voldemort lost more and more consentration to confusion with every word she was saying, "We solidly beleive in pure blood. German and Wizard. Don't think they should allow the dirty mudbloods to learn magic..."

With every word she said the three students on the table could feel the invisible ropes bounding them loosen. Eventually Harry could even get his hand into his pocket to get his wand, which voldemort had conveniantly forgotten about.

"Ooh! Are you going to kill Harry Potter? Using the old Avada Kedavra. my grandfather taught me a useful little spell. Family magic but I'm sure I could teach you since you are the greatest wizard that ever lived and you deserve nothing more than the best."

Voldemort seemed slightly interested. She wasn't lying, he would be able to tell. He was very tempted to see this bit of magic...

"May I demonstrate?" she asked him nodding towards Hermione, laying bleeding on the table, "I swear I'm not helping them. Keep your wand on me if you think I will." He moved his wand into position to curse her if need be.

"You may show me, but I warn you," he said coldly to her, "If you help them in any way, I am not afraid to use 'the old Avada Kedavra' on you."

"She smiled lopsidedly and nodded. She pulled back the sleeves on her baby blue sweater, and aimed at Hermione with her wand.

"Ta-ta sweetheart!" she said.

"Bitch." Ron mouthed at her since his voice wasn't very effective with a silencing charm on it.

Florence smiled at him before she raised her wand and yelled an incantation. Hermione's eyes looked shocked for a second before she fell over limp. Harry could no longer hear her heart. While Voldemort turned to look at Florence, slightly impressed, he reached over and checked for a pulse. None.

Then Voldemort turned to Harry, raised his wand and began to repeat Florence's incantation, but she stopped him.

"Don't you want to make him suffer?" she said to Voldemort, "Shouldn't you kill his friend first?" she finished glaring at Ron with anger flaring in her blue eyes. her face twisted into a smirk as Voldemort nodded at her suggestion and turned his wand on Ron. he yelled the spell and Ron reacted in the same way as Hermione had.

At this point Harry was so weak inside he could hardly breathe. Hermione dead. Ron dead. Thank, God he was next because he did not feel like he could go on living. They were both gone, they were both gone...

Voldemort turned to Harry now. He pulled off his hood and harry slammed his eyes shut. He did not want to see that face. That was not the last thing he was going to see. He thought of his friends but the bodies on either side of him that were rapidly cooling kind of took away from the comfort of their faces clearly displayed in his mind. Harry looked at both of the people standing in front of him, both grinning madly.

Voldemort raised his wand and yelled the incantation. Harry waited. He was waiting to die. Waiting to join his friends. Waiting for this miserable life to end. But it didn't. He waited a lot longer than he had expected, but he was still pretty alive. He opened his eyes. he winced at the sight of Voldmort. it was then that he noticed that the invisible ropes were gone completely. Everyone in the room was confused.

Voldemort tried again. Nothing happened. The spell didn't work. He tried 'The old Avada Kedavra.' It didn't work. He tried every single one of the unforgiveable curses. None worked. Voldemort was powerless.

"Hey, Harry." Florence said from beside Voldemort who was in complete shock, "You should probably do that hero thing now."

Harry looked confused.

"The prophecy..." she hinted.

Now he looked suprised that she knew about the prophecy.

"Mix up with a spell last June, I kind of read your mind by accident. Dark Lord. Standing right there. Reeeeallu vulnerable. Let's move it."

Harry shook his head. He has to kill Voldemort now? He has to kill Voldemort now. How can he? He tried the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix Lestrange last year in the Dept. of Mysteries. It hadn't worked he couldn't do it.

_Never used an unforgivable curse before have you boy? You need to _mean_ them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it -rightous anger won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it's done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson..._

Her voice rang clear in his head. he sat up on the table and pulled out his wand. He couldn't do this, It takes more than righteous anger. _But you have more than righteous anger, _a voice inside him said, _He killed your mum and dad and now your best friends, you have hate, Harry, use it._ He glanced at the bodies on either side of him. He could feel pure hate pumoing into his heart and through every blood vessel in his body. He lifted his wand and yelled the one curse that hadn't worked on him years ago. But too bad for Voldemort, it had worked this time. He was as dead as those in the graveyard at the bottom of the hill. And the last thing he had seen was a raging, hateful Harry.

"Nice one." Florence said.

"Don't get all friendly with me now, Florence, " the silencing spell had lifted, "You're next."

"I wouldn't, Harry..." she nodded towards Ron.

"You are not going to trick me like you did him," Harry motioned towards Voldemort's body, "I will not be distracted."

"What are you doing, mate? And is Hermione alright? What happened to You-Know-Who?" Ron said from beside him.

"Ron!" Harry spun around and saw Ron sit up rubbing his head, "I though you were..."

"Dead?" Hermione asked him.

"Hermione!" both of her friends shouted in unison.

She saw the crumpled heap on the ground that used to be the dark Lord and looked puzzled towards Florence.

"Crystal...how did you..."

"Hey, I'm an actress," she smiled at them, "What can I say?"

"Crystal? How did you...?" Harry asked her, still in shock from his dead friends waking up.

"Long story but I highly suggest we go somewhere safe before i tell it." she said, "May I suggest Hogwarts?" she asked.

"G-good idea," Harry said, "But how do we get there from here?"

"Portkey anyone?" Crystal/Florence said.

She picked up an old silver teacup out of a cabinet and said, "Portus!" it glowed blue and then went back to it's normal state.

Hermione looked shocked now, "That was amazing. That magic is so advanced! How did y?"

"let's save all questions until the end of the tour please." She said.

She walked towards them using the table for support.. They all touched part of the teacup and harry felt the familiar yet not so pleasant tug in his stomach and was whisked away to a certain school of witchcraft and wizardry that was currently closed for the summer.

**AN: REVIEW**


	2. Now was that really required?

**Chapter two**

They landed with a _thud_ on the grounds outside Howarts next to the lake. It was a cold night that was slowly turning into a cold morning and none of the four were really dressed for the occasion.

Right after they ;anded Hermione let out a long, agonized yell.

"Her leg." Harry said, lifting Hermione up and supporting her bad side.

At the same moment Crystal collapsed in tears and the only person left to catch her was Ron. He held her close to him but looked over her head at Harry with an awkward expression on his face. He had no idea how to handle this. So he just hugged her close. This seemed to work becuse she stopped crying but pressed herself closer to him, still shaking. She smelled strongly of liquor. She held her breath and stopped moving all together for a minute then pulled away from him.

"S-sorry." she whispered.

Ron didn't respond. He didn't know what to say. He just nodded slowly, his eyes wide.

"Would you four care to step into my office and warm up?" a calm voice said from over towards the castle. They turned to see Professor Dumbledore standing in the doorway smiling at them.

"How did you know we were here, Professor?" Harry asked him.

"Miss Granger's scream was quite enough to signal that something was not quite right, Mr. Potter."

"Oh," he responded quietly, "Right."

Dumbledore motioned towards the castle with a wave of his withered hand and they all followed him through the doors, Hermione leaning on Harry for support.

"...and I knew that when you use that spell to transfer power the person who receives them appears to be dead for about ten minutes. Usleless spell, really. The person who temporarily gets the powers can't use them. But anyway, I demonstrated on Hermione and he thought I had killed her but I had really just transferred my powers to her. So Voldemort used the same spell on Ron and then he was powerless so Harry could defeat him at last." Crystal finished her account of what had happened that night.

"Thank you for informing me," Dumbledore said to the four exausted students sitting in chairs on the opposite side of his desk, "And now I suggest you stay for the remaining day of your summer holiday. You may report to the Griffindor tower now. Good night... or morning rather"

They stood up and one by one walked out the door one after another. Hermione's leg had been mended by Madam Pomfrey while Harry had told Dumbledore what had happened.

They walked down the hall silently when Harry wondered something, "Crystal, are you really Hitler's great-granddaughter?"

"No," she told him, "I made all that up."

"Then why couldn't Voldemort tell you were lying? Do you know occlumency?" he looked at her quizzically.

"No I don't." Crystal laughed, "I think I was just so drunk I beleived everything I told him."

"Are you really an actress?" Ron asked her.

"Well," she smiled at him, "When I want to be."

They reached the Griffindor tower and realized they didn't know the password.

"Can you just let us in?" Ron whined at the Fat Lady, "Noones here yet, there's nothing to steal and no one to hurt. Besides, we're Griffindors, we've been here for five years now, don't you know us yet?"

"I can't let you in if you don't have the password." she responded stubbornly.

"You could tell us the password..." Crystal suggested.

"I can't let you in if you don't have the password," she repeated.

"Fine, we'll find somewhere else." Harry said.

"Where though?" Ron asked.

"How about the Room of Requirement?" Hermione suggested.

"Yeah! Great idea! Let's go." Harry said.

"The wha-?" Crystal ws cut off.

"C'mon," Ron said grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her down the hall after Harry and Hermione, "You'll see."

They ran across the school and stopped when they saw the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

"Okay, stop." Ron whispered to Crystal as Harry paced back and forth in front of a blank stretch of wall, apparantly thinking hard about something. All of a sudden, a tall, wooden door appeared on the wall. Harry turned to his friends ans smirked with a tilt of his head before turning the large brass handle and walking into a spacious room.

The room had four beds in it, all in a circle with the feet turned to the center. The tall windows had long maroon velvet drapes that matched the coverings on their solid cherry beds. Along one wall there was a sink and four mirrors with the same maroon curtains on rods that pulled out in cubicles around the mirrors. Underneith each of the polished, full-length mirrors was a trunk. Crystal walked over and touched the nameplate on the second one from the left.

"How did my trunk get here?" she asked the other three while her fingers ran over the words _Crystal Amelia Noramison._

"The Room of Requirement, this room, provides whatever the user needs at the time. And we needed a place to sleep, so..."

Crystal didn't respond but Ron looked up at her for a second and saw her mouth the word _Wow._ He smiled and walked over to his trunk, which was next to hers.

The both pulled the curtains around their mirrors shut and changed into their pajamas. Ron came out first, nto in his trademark way-too-short maroon pajamas, but in a pair of maroon plaid boxers and a black ribbed muscle tank.

Harry and Hermione both raised an eyebrow at him.

"I hadn't exactly packed yet and I probably threw these into my trunk when I was undressing this morning."

Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry laughed at Ron's steadily reddening ears.

Hermione got up and pulled the curtains shut around her section as Harry did the same. A moment later Crystal came out of her's wearing vertically striped shorts in different shades of blue and a white ribbed tank top. Her hair was no longer in a messy but in a tight ponytail on top of her head. She no longer wobbled or swayed when she walked.

"Hangover charms," she said to Ron, "Come in really handy."

He laughed as they walked over to the sink to brush their teeth. When Harry came out he went over to his bed to pull the covers back and looked over at the sink. When he say Crystal's pajamas he blinked a few times and took a sharp breath in before letting a long slow one out. Crystal saw this and shook her head as she walked over to her bed.

"No I didn't mean anyth-" harry started to try to explain.

"I know." she laughed at him as she crawled into her bed slowly, fake taunting him.

He wiggled his eyebrows at her and licked his lips. They both broke out laughing at exactly he same moment.

"What's so funny you two?" Hermione asked them as she came out from between the curtains in her rather short, sleeveless, light yellow nightdress.

Ron playfully whistled at her.

"Uh!" she said in mock offence.

They all laughed as the climbed into their beds and pulled the covers up over them.

They fell asleep watching the sun rise over the lake. All but one of them. Two of the eight eyes in that room slowly closed as they watched the different colors of the sunrise reflect in Crystal's eyes.

**AN: REVIEW**


	3. Chicken?

**Chapter three**

"...so when my mum died I was left with my dad. He wasn't really capable of taking care of of a nine-year-old girl so I moved to London to live with my Aunt. I didn't live with her long though. I got a full scholarship to a boarding school when I was ten and went to that school for a year. That's where I met my best friend, Jenna. I still go back to America every summer and spend time with my friends."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all game her generous little smiles. None of them had any idea what emotion to be portraying at this moment.

"You don't have to feel bad for me you know." Crystal laughed at their faces, "I'm fine really. For the most part I'm happy."

"For the most part...?" Hermione asked.

"My boyfriend..." she started, Ron and Harry's faces fell, "I kind of caught him with another girl this last summer. I broke up with him and came back to England early this year because I didn't want to face everyone there."

They all looked sad for her.

"Seriously!" she said to them, "I don't want your pity, that's why I moved back here. To get away from it."

Hermione nodded understandingly but Harry and Ron just shrugged.

They had the entire day to do nothing so they stayed in the Room of Requirement and played Exploding Snap and wizard's chess while Hermione read the new textbooks.

"You know, Hermione," Harry started, "We don't have to read those yet. You could come over here and have some fun."

"Harry!" Hermione glared at him, "I'm already four chapters behind in Potions and you know Snape's not going to be happy with that."

"So you're just reading to make Snape happy?" Ron asked her without looking up from the chess board.

"No," she said exasperated, "And I suppose you two haven't even started reading your textbooks yet."

"Why should we?" Ron asked her

"So you don't get detention for not doing your homework."

"Since when is reading the entire textbook before class even starts homework?"

"It always pays to stay ahead."

Harry just rolled his eyes at her and moved a knight.

"Checkmate." Ron said.

Harry looked surprised then started scanning the board. When he found it he made a disgusted face at the game.

"I give up." he said and stood up before he walked over to the door, "I'm going to get something to eat. Anybody want anything? Butterbeers?"

They all nodded.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Get me some of that roasted chicken." Ron said.

"See if they have any buttered rolls." Hermione asked from behind her potions book.

"Ask if they've got apricots or some peanuts." Crystal said, "Please."

"Yeah, please." Ron and Hermione said together.

"Okay." Harry said to them, "I'll be back soon."

When he returned fifteen minutes later he was loaded down with food.

"A butterbeer each," he handed them out one by one, "Rolls, chicken, and apricots with peantus."

"The house elves gave a lot of chicken," Hermione scowled, "Does anyone else want any?" Ron looked to Harry. He shook his head. Hermione didn't respond. "Hermione do you want any chicken?"

"What?" she finally looked up from the reading.

"_Do you want any chicken?_"

"Oh, no thanks, Ron."

He shook his head then looked to Crystal.

She shook her head. "I'm a vegetarian."

"Oh." Ron said, "Sorry then, Crystal."

"No it's alright. Just call me Crys."

"Okay, Crys."

They all sat in silence and just ate for a minute. After a while the sun started to set and they figured they should porbably go and find the rest of the students who should be arriving soon.

The four of them endured a lot of hugs and slaps on the back from people who apparantly thought that was the best congratulations for defeating Voldemort. They didn't eat much at the feast because they had eaten only about an hour ago. At the end of the feast Dumbledore recognized them.

"If I could have your attention," He said as he stood at the front of the great hall, "I would like to award four very unique students who were responsible for the fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort Just a few days ago. Would Hermione Gernger, Ronald Weasley, Crystal Noramison, and of course Harry Potter please stand."

They stood, Ron and Hermione reddening as they did. The other two were a bit more successful at hiding their feelings.

"I would like to begin the year by awarding twenty house points to each of these students for their remarkable performance in the face of evil." At those words every Slytherin in the Great Hall's jaw dropped. The four students that were standing smiled at _that_.

After Dumbledore finished his speech they were sent to bed again, this time they were able to enter the Griffindor Tower. As they walked by the Fat Lady Ron mumbled, "I told you so."

Harry laughed and they all split up to go to bed.


	4. We'll have a ball

**Chapter four**

Crystal didn't wake up until late the next day. When she realized she only had ten minutes to dress, eat, and get to her first class she rolled out of bed on to the cold, stone floor and rushed into her day. She quickly pulled on a green and white mini skirt and a rather tight white sweater. She pulled her robes over her shivering shoulders, grabbed her bag, and ran down through the common room and into the Great Hall.

When she entered the Great Hall most people had already finished their breakfasts and were heading to their first classes of the day. She ran over to the Griffindor table, grabbed a peach and a peice of wheat toast, and started down the hall slowly. She was finished with her toast and halfway through her peach when she realized she didn't know where she was going. She dropped her half finished fruit in a nearby bin and turned back towards the Great Hall. As she rounded a corner she bumped into someone.

"Harry!" she said startled, "Sorry! I didn't see you there. I was just going back to the great Hall to-"

"Get this?" He finished for her, holding up a slip of paper. Her schedule.

"Thanks." she smiled at him while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She took the paper from him and turned to leave.

_Don't look back_, she told herself, _never show weakness. _ She heard a crash from behind her. She turned around then and saw Harry helping Neville Longbottom pick up his dropped books. He glanced at her and smiled, a slight twinge in his cheeks. _Nice, Crys. real nice._

She read her schedule and saw she had Defense Against the Dark Arts next. She ran to her next class, almost forgetting about a certain trick step and only realized it seconds before she stepped in it when Lavender shouted from behind her. She turned around and thanked her with a wave then continued to run. She almost made it too.

"Late, Miss..." the New teacher said.

"Noramison, Crystal Noramison. Sorry Ma'am."

"Professor Neslon. Miss Normanison has brought up a good point here class and she has taught you your first lesson of the year." Professor Neslon said as Crystal slipped into an empty table at the edge of the room.

Ron beckoned at Crystal from across the room to come sit with him, Harry and Hermione. She subtley shook her head.

"If you are late you shall receive a detention." Professor Neslon said to Crys, who turned her head towards her professor immediately flashing her a fake smile, "Crystal your detention will be held tomorrow. I shall tell you when I find a suitable punishment. Now for the real lesson..."

They all practiced various hexes for the rest of the class so Professor Neslon could see how far they were in their studies. When the end of class came she called Crystal to the front of the room.

"I think I have found a suitable punishment for you Miss Noramison," she started.

"That fast?"

Her teacher smiled, "Yes _that fast_, I noticed..."

Crystal eyed Harry over Professor Neslon's soulder as she filed through the papers on her desk. He eyed her back. She gave him a quick wink then turned her attention back to her teacher.

"...I beleive you two are in the same house, correct?" she finished.

"Pardon?" Crystal asked more politely than usual.

"I was asking if yourself and Mr. Weasley are in the same house, Griffindor?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Then your punishment for being late shall be to help him catch up on his hexing. I'm afriad the boy was very far off in his aim and pronounciation."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"So Mr.Weasley shall know every hex you do by Monday?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"You are dismissed, Miss Nomarison."

Crys gave her a small false smile and turned on her heel to leave the classroom and head for herbology.

"A ball?"

"No way!"

"There hasn't been one since..."

Harry and Ron walked into the common room the next day to see chaos over a new poster that had appeared on the Griffindor posting board overnight.

"A ball?" Harry said.

"Another?" Ron responded sounding annoyed, "The Yule ball was awful, didn't any of these people learn their lesson?" he eyed all of the excited lower classmen angrily.

"It's only one night." Harry said, a hint of exitement in his voice.

Ron missed it. "This is a whole new mess. What if we just don't go?"

"And miss out on a good time?" Hermione's voice asked from behind them, "Look on the bright side, Ron, at least you have good dress robes this time."

"Doesn't matter." Harry said after reading the flyer through, "it's not a dress robe-y thing?"

"What?" Hermione asked pushing by him to read the flyer.

"It says 'For an added bit of excitement Professor Dumbledore has decided we all wear muggle dress clothes as a Halloween treat.' Real excitement there."

Crystal pushed through the crowd to read the notice. Her eyebrows raised with content and she turned to Hermione.

"This'll be interesting." she said.

"Why?" Hermione asked her, "Muggle clothes? Is this a joke?"

"Well," Crystal mouth twisted into an excited grin, "Half the students in this school are born into wizarding families. They will have no idea how to dress for this thing."

Hermione smiled, "For once in my life I have an advantage over the rest of the school."

"What do you mean 'for once in your life'? Your the top of our class! You _always_ have an advantage over everyone else."

Hermione's cheeks held a tint of pink.

Crystal started to turn and leave, "Bye, Hermione." she said.

She gave Harry a quick once over and then left to go to the Great Hall.

"Wow," Hermione said to Harry, "She really has got a thing for you."

Ron's ears went red and he glared at Harry for a second before Hermione saw him and he stopped.

"This whole ball thing'll be fun." Rom mumbled as they headed out the door for breakfast.

"Hey, Ron! RON!" Crys yelled as she ran down the hallway towards him, Harry, and Hermione after they left Charms, "I need to talk to you."

"Yeah," Ron said, not quite sure what was about to come.

"I'm supposed to tutor you in your hexes." she said as Ron nodded towards his friends to tell them he'd join them in a minute.

"What?"

"It's my punsihment for being late," she added with a scowl. Upon seeing his face she quick;y added, "Not that being with you is a punishment."

"Wait," he said, thining the situation over, "You have to tutor me in hexes? Why?"

"Because Professor Neslon said your bad at them."

"How would she know?"

"She was watching us all class."

"She must not have been watching very closely."

"She was."

"How close?"

"Close enough to know you need help."

"I don't."

"You do."

"How would you know?"

"Because Professor Neslon told me so!"

"How would she know!"

"She was watching us in class!"

Their voices rose to a level where passing students started to stare at them.

"Look," Crys said quietly, "All she said was you have to be brushed up on your hexing by next Monday. That's all I know."

"So she chose you to help me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I was late. We've been through this already."

"By monday?"

"Yes!"

"So when are you going to teach me?"

"I don't know. How's Saturday?"

"Can't. Hogsmeade."

"Hogsmeade? This early in the year. Why?'

"The ball in two weeks. This week and next are Hogsmeade weekends so students can get stuff for the ball, I guess."

"In Hogsmeade? Aren't we supposed to wear muggle stuff?"

"Hey, I didn't set the dates okay. How did you not see that? It was on the flyer this morning."

"I didn't see it."

"It was at the bottom in small print."

"So how would I have seen it?"

"I did."

"That's you."

"So you're not going to Hogsmeade?"

"Well, I guess not."

"Do you want to come with us?"

"Us?"

"Harry, Hermone and me. We're going together on Saturday."

"Not really..."

"You're missing out on life."

"No I'm not."

"You are."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"Fine I'll go."

"Good. Meet us in the entrance Hall on Saturday morning."

"What time?"

"Ten."

"Ten! Are you mad!"

"I don't think so, why?"

"Do you all always get up that early?"

"It's not that early."

"Yes it is."

"Okay it is. Are you coming or not."

"Yes."

"Even though we're getting up _so_ early?"

"Yes."

"Sure?"

"You took so long to get me to go. Do you want me to change my mind?"

"No."

"Then it's ten on Saturday."

"So when do you tutor me?"

"On Sunday."

"Good idea."

"What can I say? I'm brilliant."

"Pretty damn close."

"Nah. I'm brilliant."

"Okay."

"See you on saturday."

"Bye."

A/N:I know the muggle clothing thing isn't realistic in any way but I really can't picture a ball with everyone just wearing colored robes, that's boring to me. oh well, this is called fan fiction for a reason. R&R!


	5. Mud, more mud and quidditch practice

**Chapter 5**

Two days later, Crystal sat on a cushy maroon sofa in the Griffindor common room while the rain poured down outside. She was flipping through a three inch thick catalog. She had a bored expression on her face and every few seconds she would stop slowly flipping pages and write something down on a small pad of paper.

Hermione walked over and sat down next to her.

"Whatcha lookin at?" she asked curiously.

"Nice grammar." Crys responded, looking up from the catalog with a smile.

"Thanks," Hermione said, "I've been studting _all_ week. So what _are_ you looking at?"

"Dresses."

"For the ball?"

"Yup."

"Can I look with you?"

"Sure." she scootched down the couch a little so that they sat next to each other, knees touching, with the book between them.

"Wanna look from the beginning?" she asked.

"Sure."

Ginny entered the common room soaking wet and muddy from the rain.

"Quidditch practice go well?" Hermione asked her.

"It was awful." Harry said trudging in behind her.

"Ron is worse than Oliver and Angelina combined." Ginny added.

"You weren't even on the team when Oliver was Captain." Hermione said.

"She's right though." Harry confirmed for them.

"What are you guys looking at anyway?" Ginny asked them, trying to get a peek at what was in the catalog.

"Dresses for the ball." Crys told her, "Go clean up and you can look with us. We'll wait for you."

Ginny smiled and nodded and ran up the staircase to the girl's dorms as Harry shook his head, splattering a few nearby second years with mud, as he walked up the staircase opposite.

A few minutes later Ginny came running down the stairs in a pair of silky red pajama pants and a black tank top. She sat down on the other side of Crys and they shifted the catalog so they could all see.

"So..." Hermione said, "Either of you have a date to the ball yet?"

"The poster only went up this morning!" Crys laughed.

"I know," Hermione continued, "I was just trying to use a creative method of bringing up the fact that Ginny already has a date."

Crys turned her head towards Ginny with raised eyebrows.

"Well." Crys said in a mock motherly voice, "Someone sure is eager for the ball. I just hope that you were responsible in your decision and that you know-" Ginny had grabbed a nearby pillow and hit her in the back of the head.

"Hey!"

They all started to giggle.

"Look what this is doing to us!" Hermione whispered, leaning in to her friends, "We're already turning into Lavender and Parvati and it's only a week into the year!" That only succeeded in causing a whole new fit of giggles.

After they all stopped, although they were still red in the face, Crys spoke.

"So who are you going with?" she looked to Ginny.

"Dean." she said shortly.

"You two are _still_ going out!" Crys awed, "Woooooow."

Ginny shot her a mock glare and they started to look at the dresses.

"Where'd you get this anyway?" Hermione asked Crys, referring to the catalog.

"I wrote my friend in America. She sent me the catalog and said if we send the money, along with our orders, she can send the dresses to us by owl post."

They all grinned and continued to point out certain dresses on the pages of the thick little catalog.

"Ron this is miserable!" Ginny shouted from 50 feet above the ground on her broomstick, "We're not actually practicing Quidditch as much as we are practicing our survival skills! Let's just stop now and save our energy!" She was struggling to stay on her broom in the pouring rain.

"Fine! FINE! We'll stop!" Ron responded, officially pissed by how the amout of rain was seriously cutting into their practice time.

There were a few whoops from several other team members and everyone zoomed towards the muddy ground.

They all waded through the mud with scowls on their faces to get back into the locker room. When they finally arrived Ron stormed into the Captain's office and slammed the door. Everyone else had a hell of a time peeling their muddy quidditch robes away from their soaking bodies. They all put on fresh jeans and shirts but the mud just soaked through and they still looked like they fell into a mud puddle. Which for the most part they had, seeing as the whole of Hogwarts grounds was a big mud puddle right now due to all the rain.

Ron watched all this through the one way (by magic) window in his office.

_How could this happen?_ he thought _How, in my first year as Qudditch Captain, is it going to rain for the first few WEEKS of coaching? How did I get stuck with this?_

He slowly undressed and was smart enough to use a handy little spell Hermione had taught him to dry off. He didn't dare try it on his head because he isn't the greatest wizard ever and hair does burn very fast. He pulled on a pair of jeans and an old black t-shirt, just as the rest of his team had, and sat down in the small wooden chair at his desk. He put his elbows on his knees and lowered his head so he could run his finger through his soaking hair. _ So much pressure. There has to be something to help take the pressure off. Knowing Crys is coming this weekend does not help with the stress either. What am I going to wear?_ His head shot out of his hands at his last thought.

"I sound like Ginny." he said aloud.

He stood up, ran his fingers through his hair nervously once more, and walked out of his office, carefully closing the door behind him.

As he walked through the Entrance Hall he could hear people laughing and eating dinner. He didn't really feel like eating. As he walked by the doorway he glanced in and saw most of his team eating miserably. All except Harry and Ginny. _Harry. He had better not!_ Ron thought as he took off in a run towards the Griffindor Tower.

When he got to the fat lady's portrait he skidded to a halt and panted out the password as fast as he could.

"Ca-ca-nary cream." Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was growing ever more popular by the day.

"In a rush aren't we, young man?" the Fat Lady said to him as she swung open.

Ron didn't respond he just scrambled up through the portrait hole to find out what those two were up to. _I'm gonna kill Harry if he even gets anywhere near-_ his thought were cut off by running into the Common Room to see Hermione, Crys, and Ginny sitting on a sofa giggling over a catalog.

"Why the rush, Ron?" Hermione asked him.

"Nothing...nothing...I just couldn't wait to see you." he mentally slapped himself as he ran his hand through his hair again.

All three girls burst into a new fit of giggles, again causing Ron ears to redden.

Then they stopped laughing, but continued to grin as they leafed through a catalog pointing out different things they like and _really_ don't like.

"Women." Harry said from behind Ron, holding out a butterbeer for him.

"Cheers." Ron said, before taking a long swig.


	6. PAWS

**Chapter six**

Crys opened her eyes slowly. _Saturday. _ Finnally, a day to relax and just go shopping. Shopping! what time is it? She glanced at the watch that never left her wrist. The tiny silver hands read 10:23. She slammed her eyes shut before rolling out of her bed, dressing quickly, and running downstairs. Again.

She ran up to the other three in the Entrance Hall.

"S-sorry," she panted, "Slept in."

"It's alright," Hermione smiled at her lightly, "Harry only got here five minutes ago anyway."

Ron nodded his head in agreement.

"Because _someone_," She turned on Ron, "Didn't have sense enough to wake him up."

"You didn't wake Crys up." he glared down at her as she glared right back up.

"I didn't know she was coming until twenty minutes ago when you told me." she raised her eyebrows at him triumphantly.

"Well!" Harry broke them up, "now that everyone's here, we can leave. Right?"

The other three nodded as they walked out the front doors of the castle onto the fresh, green, soon-to-be-dead-and-covered-in-snow grass.

Hermione and Crys both stood with their hands on their hips watching Harrry and Ron run off towards the Qudditch supply store like little boys. Hermione shook her head and turned to Crys.

"So," she said awkwardly, "Do you want to go get coffee or something?"

"Sure." Crys said, and they walked off towards a nearby coffee shop.

They both sat down and when their coffee was poured they sipped it slowly, waiting for the other to speak first.

"So, Crys," Hermione said, "I was wondering if you would help me out with this thing."

"Thing?"

"Yeah. It's called the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. It's a really great group. We're fighting to free the house elves. Did you know that they've been enslaved for centuries, but no one, before me, has tried to help them? It's absolutely ridiculous. these poor magical creatures are forced to work..." Hermione continued her usual speech while Crystal sat silently and sipped her coffee, nodding now and then.

When she finished Crys spoke softly, "You know Hermione," she glanced at her cautiously, "The house elves like being enslaved. It's what they were meant to do. It's their role on-"

"Wait." Hermione interrupted, "This is what everyone says, but that doesn't make it right. These poor things have no choice!"

"It's their destiny, Hermione. It's like us."

"Us?" Hermione looked at Crystal, on the verge of being offended.

"Well," Crys said quieter now, so that Hermione had to lean in a few inches to hear her, "It's like us as muggle-borns. 'Pure-bloods' think we shouldn't be allowed to do magic just because our parents weren't magical people. But we know we are meant to do this. You are the top of our class, almost our entire school. It's destiny, Hermione."

This particular statement seemed to have struck something deep inside Hermione because she looked deep in thought. She didn't speak for a moment.

"Now you know what would be really revolutionary?" Crystal broke the silence, "A society for Werewolves." Hermione looked up from the sugar bowl, "They are just wizards with a certain 'time of the month.' okay not quite the same, but it's nature, something they can't help and they're mistreated for it." the glint started to return to Hermione's eye, "We could call it the Protection and Awareness of Werewolves Society, or something."

Hermione pondered for a moment.

"Yeah," she said, "I like it. We should get started soon. We can make badges by Monday and start getting people to join, I think more might join this one because a lot of people really liked Professor Lupin. People might actually support this!" She stood up. "I'm going to go get some materials now."

She didn't even wait for Crys, she just ran off down the street, a bit more inspired than Crystal had intended. Right past Harry and Ron, who looked at her questioningly but she just shook her head and ran past. They shrugged and walked up to Crys, who was paying for the coffee.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked her.

"Don't know." she responded.

"Liar." he said back to her.

"So?" she looked up at him. She was at least half a foot shorter than him but she still stood her ground and looked as though she might win. She increased her level of threat by standing on her tip-toes, raising her almost a whole inch. Ron didn't flinch. Neither did Crys. Harry rolled his eyes at them.

No one had any idea how this would end. Then they heard a woman scream from the street. Both Ron and Crystal's heads turned towards the door and the three of them all ran out into the street to see what was going on.

When they finnally reached the main road they saw Ginny standing in the middle of the road, facing Dean, looking scared and angry, covered from head to toe in mud. Ron's jaw dropped Harry looked confused. Crystal's hand flew to her mouth. They all started towards the couple at the same time.

Crys ran to Ginny's side keeping her eyes on Dean as Harry and Ron defensively pulled him off to the side of the road in one rough motion. Harry pinned him against the side of a building as Ron started yelling at Dean. Ginny's eyes widened at her brother and she ran over to him. Crys followed.

"Ron!" Ginny yelled, "Don't you dare hurt him! Stay away!" she screamed at her fuming brother as his fist swung back before reversing and coming into contact with the side of Dean's face. His eyes flickered with anger but he didn't make any move to resist at all.

"Ron!" she screamed even more angrily. She ran up to her boyfriend and tenderly touched his bruised face. He pulled away.

Ron pushed Ginny out of the way and started to take another swing but Crys ran up behine him and grabbed his arm. He swung around to face her.

"What the hell are you doing!" he yelled at her.

"What the hell are _you_ doing!" she said to him.

He struggled with to free his wrist but her grip was tight and he didn't want to hurt her. Her eyes flashed with a million emotions at once. The most prominant was fear. But she didn't back down. She makes a point to never back down.

She wouldn't let him break eye contact. She stared into his brown eyes intensely.

Behind him Ginny had managed to make Harry let Dean go and Dean had stormed off angrily. She had started after him but Harry had grabbed her and wouldn't let her go after him.

"Harry! Let me go!" she struggled to free herself form his grasp.

"No! Are you mad! Look what he did to you!" he protested.

"He didn't do this to me!" she defended her boyfriend, "I tripped."

Harry reached over and wiped the mud from her face. She flinched.

"You're bruised." he said calmly to her, "You did not fall."

"What!" Ron spun around, dragging Crys with him. She started to fall but he caught her. They both stared at Ginny expectently.

"I'm not lying to you!" she screamed and broke free of Harry's grasp, running towards Hogwarts after Dean.

Harry rubbed his face with his now muddy hands and looked at Ron. The seriousness of the moment was paused for a second when Harry's eyebrows raised at the fact that Crys was still in Ron's arms. He smirked at them. Ron's ears went red. Crys just straighted up and brushed off her jeans.

"Well," she started to the boys, "I should probably go find Hermione."

"We'll go back to the castle." Ron said glancing slyly at Harry, "We'll meet you later." Harry nodded.

"No you won't!" she snapped, "You are not going back there where Ginny and Dean are. You let them sort this out on their own."

"Sort what out?" Hermione came up behind them, a small tin box in her hands "Why are you all so muddy?"

They told her what had happened in the last fifteen mintues and her eyes widened with every word. No one spoke after they finished. They all walked slowly back to Hogwarts silently. They went to their dorms without a word and didn't speak to anyone until they were all lost in dreams of mud and bruises and anger, two of the dreamers awoke with the image in another in their heads. Shock had held them together, and that was only just enough to spark the imagination. But all it takes is a spark to start a flame. They awoke in the early morning, covered in sweat, not sure what to feel about the upcoming tutoring session.


	7. yeah real bad at hexing

**Chapter seven**

Ron woke up with the image of Crystal glued to the inside of his mind. He tried to shake it out. It didn't work. Right next to her picture was the one of Harry's face and the smirk when Hermione had mentioned what a 'thing' Crys had for him.

_Everytime._ Ron thought, _every single time I like a girl she turns right to Harry. First Cho, then Hermione, now Crys. Can't he leave any for me? What is it about him that is just so appealing?_ Ron's train of thought ended when Harry himself awoke and tumbled out of the bed next to him.

"Ron?" he mumbled through the curtain around Ron's bed, "You in there, mate?"

Yeah," he pulled the curtain aside, "I'm here. What time is it?"

Harry looked at his watch, "Ten."

Ron nodded.

After they were both dressed they walked down to the Great Hall and sat down at the Griffindor table. Each of them piled some food on his plate and began to eat.

"So," Harry said through his mouthful of toast, "Do you want to go out and fly around for awhile today before practice tomorrow?"

"Can't," Ron responded simply. He swollowed his food and continued, "I've got to study with Crystal today."

"Oh yeah." Harry said, "So, got a date yet?"

"To the ball? Don't think I'm going."

"Hermione's not going to let you get away with that and you know it."

"I know. But maybe she'll get another nice date this time," he cringed at the thought of Krum, "and she'll forget all about us."

Harry was silent.

"What do you know that I don't?" Ron asked his best friend suspiciously.

"That Hermione's already got a date to the ball." he finished quickly and lifted his pumpkin juice to his lips to take a long gulp.

"Who!"

"You don't know him. He's a-"

"It's you isn't it?"

"Well, yes." He gave in, "But we're not dating again. That's through. This is just to get us both through the dance without suffering."

"Without suffering," Ron said at a level that only he could hear himself at, "Lucky you."

When Ron came up to the Room of Requirement that evening for his study session with Crys, he was nervous. There was no avoiding it. He had no idea what to expect. He turned the heavy knob and entered.

Crys was sitting, ready for him, books strewn across the floor and the sofa she sat on with her back to him. He had no idea why, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw the small of her neck below where her dark hair was pulled into a ponytail high on her head.

"Hey, Teach." he said.

She turned around smiling, her hair swung in it's ponytail behind her. "We should get started." she said.

Ron walked over and around the couch as she stood up.

"So try this one," she pointed to a hex in a textbook lying open on the sofa, "You should probably give your wrist more of a flick,"

He tried it. It was perfect. She pointed to another. Same result. And so this went on for fifteen more hexes.

"Are you ever going to be happy with my ability." he asked her while sitting down.

"Probably not." she admitted, sitting next to him.

"But you know I didn't need help now, right?"

"Yes but why would Professor Neslon tell me you needed it when you didn't?" She looked perplexed.

"Maybe she felt like giving you a false detention because she couldn't think of anything good." Ron sat up against the back of the sofa and put his arms along the back.

Crys rolled her eyes and mirrored him, leaning against the back, her neck right in the nook of his elbow.

Ron's heart began to beat faster. They sat like this for about five minutes before Ron convinced himself to make the first move. He started his index finger moving in circles on her bare shoulder. The circles were evenly spaced and seemed to be counting down. _5_...his heart sped up a bit..._4_...Crys flipped her hair over her opposite shoulder..._3_...the clock struck eight..._2_...Ron blinked his eyes to try to bring himself back to Earth..._1_... They both seemed to have known what was coming, and executed it quite well.

At the exact same moment Crys spun around and flung her leg over Ron's lap so that she was kneeling with a knee on either side, Ron latched his fingers around the back of her waist and pulled her closer. Without a single word their lips crashed together and Crys's hands began to wander all through Ron's rather long, red hair. As the kiss deepened Crys gave up trying to kneel and wrapped her legs around the back of Ron without seperating her lips from his once. Eventually his lips slowly slipped away from hers and trailed down her neck. When he hit one point, just below her ear, she shuddered. She put a hand on the side of his face and guided his lips back to her own. _No sign of weakness._ She smiled into his mouth as she felt his tounge slowly but surely creeping through her soft lips. She accepted and greeted his tounge with her own as she pushed him onto his back on top of the cushy sofa. She laid on top of him and pressed her body closer to his, Her hips grinding into him with every move she made. She heard him groan into their kiss and slowly pulled her lips away from his. She smiled down at him and rolled over on the wide couch until she was on her side facing him with his arm around her shoulders and hers spread across his stomach.

They laid there in silence for a moment before Crys was flung onto her back and Ron suddenly on top of her.

All of a sudden Crys was torn from sleep when the clock struck eleven. She blinked a few times before realizing that she and Ron were out over two hours past cerfew. They had to get back to Griffindor Tower, and fast.

She gently nudged his shoulder to wake him.

"Ron," she whispered, less than an inch from his ear, "Ron, wake up. We've got to go now." He only barely stirred.

"Ron!" she whispered louder, "Wake up!"

"What? No." he mumbled and shut his eyes again.

This was not working. She started to nibble on his earlobe. She slowly worked her tounge into the motion until he was fully awake and turned his face towards hers. He softly kissed her.

"We have to go." she whispered.

"Why? What time is it?" he asked her softly.

"It's past eleven." she said.

"What!" he sat up suddenly.

"Yeah!" she responded, "I tried to tell you but you didn't want to hear it."

He wasn't listening. "What we need is Harry's invi-" Halfway through the word an invisibility cloak appeared in front of them.

Crys smiled at him as he pulled the cloak around himself and invited her to join him. She snuggled up close to him as he pulled it around them and they set off slowly down the corridor.

They walked for a long time, at least a half hour before they reached the Fat Lady's Portrait. She was reluctant to let them in so late, but she did. They came out from under the cloak and pulled themselves up through the portrait hole. When they got inside they found two pairs of eyes resting on them from beside the fire.

"They'll be back any minute now, they can't stay out much longer." Hermione said, not beleiving her own words.

"They probably could." Harry responded, "We should go find them. What if something happened?"

"If they're not back in twenty minutes we'll go." Harry nodded.

Fifteen minutes later Harry ran upstairs to get his invisibility cloak.

"It's gone." he said from halfway down the stairs.

Hermione stood up, "What?"

"The invisibility cloak is gone. It's not in my dorm. You don't think Ron took it do you?"

"No, he didn't have anything but his wand when he left."

"Something must have happened. Invisibility cloaks don't just dissapear."

"Well actually, Harry..."

"You know what I meant."

"Something must be wrong."

"Let's go."

"Without the cloak?"

"What if they're hurt?"

"Alright let's go."

Just than the portrait swung open and swung shut.

"Ron is that you?" Harry said.

Ron and Crystal emerged from under the cloak.

"God!" Hermione's voice raised, "You two had us worried sick!"

"You sound like my mother." Ron mumbled.

"What have you two been up to?" Harry asked eyeing their mussed hair and giddy smiles.

"Don't answer that." Hermione said quickly.

"We fell asleep." Crys said.

"Together?" Harry gaped.

"Oh stop it you have more sense than that, Harry." Hermione nudged him, "They would not do anything like that, they hardly know each other."

Ron's ears turned that familiar shade of red and Hermione's doubt of her last words grew.

"You didn't."

"No." Crystal said in a very clear tone, "We did not. Nothing happened." _Liar._ she thought.

"Alright we believe you," Hermione ended the conversation, "It's late we have class tomorrow."

She and Crys headed towards the girl's staircase as Harry and Ron headed towards the opposite one.


	8. shelled up?

**Chapter eight**

At breakfast the next morning Hermione and Crys sat discussing P.A.W.S. as Harry talked to Ron about Qudditch. Ron didn't hear a word. He was watching Crys. She never once looked his way. Maybe he had just been a one night thing for her. Maybe he was just the boy of the night. He started to think their snogfest had just been out on a whim. His mouth turned into a frown and he stopped eating his food, just pushing it around on his fork.

"Ron," Harry said, "Ron, why are you frowning? The Cannons winning is a good thing remember? What's wrong, mate?"

"Nothing. Cannons good. You're right. Go on." Ron said emotionlessly.

"Something did happen between you two last night." Ron snapped back to attention.

"No, no... it was nothing, we were just studying and we fell asleep. That's it. Nothing more. Studying."

"Ah," Harry could see Ron's eyes clouding up again, "What did you study?"

"Hexes." He was fully tuned out again, not even thinking about the words rolling off his lips.

"Hexes are good."

"Yeah."

"Anything else good?"

"Crys."

"How good."

"Real good."

"But how is she good?"

"Tastes good."

"And how did you figure that out?" Ron snapped back, his ears were yet again bright red.

"She told me." he responded stupidly.

"She told you she tasted good?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"No," he gave in, "I figured it out for myself."

"Good boy." was all Harry said before starting up on the Cannons again.

"What!" Ron said to him loudly.

"Well he is the best seeker they've seen in years..." he repeated

"No not that!" Ron smiled at his friend, "The good boy part."

"Oh I was just commenting on how you're not all shelled up anymore."

"Shelled up?"

"Well yeah," Harry said laughing, "You were kind of shy around girls before, now you're not so you're not all shelled up anymore."

Ron shook his head as they stood up and set off for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Professor Neslon didn't ask Ron or Crys anything about hexes. She didn't test Ron. She didn't even acknowledge them outside of the lesson. When the class anded and the bell rang she still hadn't said a word.

"That was odd." Ron said to Crys.

"Yeah it was." she agreed, "Maybe she just forgot about it."

"Maybe." Ron said he leaned into Harry and Hermione and said, "You guys goon, I'll meet you there in a few minutes." They both nodded. Hermione had a smug look on her face like she had figured it all out first. The look fell when Harry told her that Ron had already admitted it to him.

"So," Ron said and Crys looked away from Harry's grin and Hermione's dropped jaw.

"So," she repeated.

"I was wondering..." Ron stared again. He didn't finish.

"Oh, really! So was I!" Crys said to him excitedly.

"Really?" Ron's eyes lit up.

"No. I have no idea what you're trying to say I just thought I'd say something to break the awkward silence."

"Oh," Ron sighed loudly, "Well I was wondering if you would go to the ball with me."

"The ball?"

"Yeah remember? It's in two weeks."

"I know when the ball is."

"So will you go with me?"

"With you?"

"Yes."

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because I like you." That statement surprised both of them.

"You do?"

"Y-yeah."

"When did that happen?"

"What snogging for an hour didn't tell you that?"

"It was forty minutes."

"Wow. Um...sure, sure I'll go with you."

"Great."

"Great."

"See you later."

"Yeah." Crys mumbled, _What have you gotten yourself into now?_


	9. bun in the oven?

**Chapter nine**

"...and what am I supposed to wear to this thing? I have no idea how muggles dress for formal things. And how is she going to expect me to treat her, in case you haven't noticed over the last five years I'm not exactly a gentleman. And what-"

Harry nodded as he looked for a new quill while Ron babbled on about the ball.

"Hey, Ron, look." Harry cut him off, "Wow, that bloke's brilliant. Look."

Ron stopped babbling and looked where Harry was pointing. He nodded at his friend and they walked over to the stand set up on the main road of Hogsmeade. Harry was right, this man was brilliant, he had set up a stand of catalogs and magazines of muggle clothing for Hogwarts students to order for the ball. This guy was going to be rich by the end of the week. And buisness was already bustling around the small cart in the middle of the street. Harry and Ron each grabbed a catalog and paid the man two knuts each before they went to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer to decide on what they will order to wear to the ball.

By an hour later they both had decided on basic coat and tie suits and sent their owls to the wizarding company that sold all the muggle clothes.

When they were walking back to the Griffindor common room to do their homework for the week they ran into Hermione and Ginny. Ginny's cheeks were tear-stained and she covered her face when she saw the two boys.

Ron started to ask her what was wrong but Hermione shook her head and led Ginny down the corridor into the prefect's bathroom.

"Dean." Crys said from in between them, making them jump.

"What'd he do this time!" Ron nearly yelled at her.

"Nothing," she responded looking into his eyes, "She's just really upset. She thinks she isn't satisfying him."

The color drained out of Ron's face. He started towards the prefect's bathroom in long strides. He could hear Crys' quick footsteps behind him as she followed. Harry stood rooted to the spot he had been in when he first saw Ginny. Ron opened his mouth to say the bathroom's password when Crys stepped in front of him.

"Ron, I'm pregnant." she said quickly, "with your baby." she burst into tears and ran down the hallway.

Ron turned to look at Harry's stunned face.

"That's not possible," he said hurredly, taking backward steps after Crys, "We didn't go that far. She can't be." he turned around and ran after her.

"Crys," Ron said softy, slowly approaching her sobbing form in the corner, "Crys are you alright?"

She shook her head without looking up from her knees.

Ron sank down against the stone wall next to her and slid his arm around her shoulders.

"Ron," she said raising her head, there was no trace of a tear on her face, "You know you shouldn't have tried to follow Ginny and Hermione into that bathroom. Ginny's fine, she's just upset. Everyone has the right to get upset."

Ron's mouth gaped.

"Okay, I kow pregnancy was a big subject to fake on but I wanted to make an impact so I had to go big. I couldn't just let you walk in there. That poor girl has six older brothers who think it's their job to watch over her when she is perfectly capable of watching over herself."

He didn't close his mouth. Crys put her hand under his jaw and did it for him.

"I'm sorry I tricked you but I was just trying to protect Ginny." She stood up and started to walk away. After a few feet she turned back to him.

"You coming?"

Ron didn't move. "You scared me so much. More than spiders ever did. Even more than the thought of my mother angry had. You had me thoroughly frigthened, Crys, because I knew we hadn't gone that far and that meant that if you were pregnant, then it had to be someone else's. And I really don't want you to be with anyone else."

Crys' face now sported a frown as she walked back and sat next to him. She wrapped her arms around him as best she could.

"I'm sorry, Ron," she whispered only a centimeter away from his cheek, "I'm really sorry."

He buried his face in her warm, soft hair. He slowly inhaled, never ever wanting to move again. And they sat there just like that, Crys' arms wrapped around Ron, both of them sitting on the cold stone floor, breathing in the scent of each other, until the sun rose over the horizon on Sunday morning.


	10. and it just flew away?

**Chapter ten**

There are two hours left until the ball. Crys, Ginny and Hermione sat in the sixth year girls dorm room preparing as they had been for the past three hours. They delicately applied makeup to each other's faces, wiping and blending where needed. They only had an hour left to finish up make up and do their hair before they got dressed.

Harry and Ron sat downstairs in their normal clothes playing wizard chess. They had an hour until they had to change. They were both nervous, except Ron was the one who showed it. It became clearly evident of his nerves when he lost the chess game.

"You're out of it, mate." Harry said to him, "You should go take a nap or something."

"Take a nap?" Ron laughed at him, "Are you being serious?"

"Yes. You look like you could use some sleep."

"Well thanks." Ron said sarcastically as he walked towards his dorm to take a nap.

"Ron, wake up." Harry said to the _still_ sleeping Ron, "Ron!"

"What?" Ron said groggily.

"The ball starts in twenty minutes!"

"What! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" he snapped awake.

"Because I fell asleep too,"

They quickly dressed and Harry tried to tame his hair while Ron combed his out. They took one last glance in the mirror and looked at each other nodding mutely in approval before heading down to the common room to meet their dates.

Their jaws dropped as they saw Crys and Hermione come down the stairs in their dresses.

Hermione's dress was a deep red and it's sqare-necked halter bodice went perfectly with her no longer bushy but curly hair that hung halfway down her back. The hemline came down to halfway between her knees and ankles and was pushed out by several layers underneith it. She was stunning and she saw Harry blink a few times and gulp after he finally realized his mouth had been hanging open at her.

Crys' dress was a dark blue bodice beaded with clear and silver beads in intricate patterns that twisted around each other and entranced the eye. Her skirt was black and full length and flowed out away from her her slender legs perfectly. The lack of straps on her dress and her hair that was pulled into a twist with a few curly strands framing her face showed off her neck and shoulders that remaned bare. Ron reaction was quite the same as Harry's.

After they descended the staircase they each took a place next to their date and set off downstairs. Harry and Hermione's arms were linked together but Ron's arm was around Crys' waist and her fingers linked with his on her hip.

The four of them sat down at a small round table laughing, all red in the face from dancing for forty minutes straight. At fisrt the ball had been awkward, but after a few minutes they had loostened up and torn the dance floor apart.

Ron and Harry offered to go get drinks and Hermione and Crys sat at the table alone. Crys saw Malfoy approaching first in his tuxedo and she had to try hard to stifle a laugh. He walked up to the two of them with his two cronies standing behind him, their shadows cast over the girls.

"So, Malfoy," Crys began, a definate bitterness in her voice, "Where's Pansy?" a false smile spread across her lips.

Malfoy scowled at her. "That's beside the point, mudblood."

"Well, Draco, dear, I was just trying to make conversation," her voice was now as falsely sweet as her smile, "What is the point?"

"I know what you did last summer." he said bitterly.

"That's copyrighted you know." she shot back, "Is daddy not happy about a certain dark lord's fall? Right hand man not quite sure where to turn?"

He took an agressive step towards her. She stood up to look him in the eye. They glared at each other and Draco spoke.

"My father is a powerful man, Noramison."

"You're father _was_ a powerful man, Malfoy. Money can only go so far. Face it, Voldemort's gone, and Daddy's got no one to lean on now."

Malfoy glared harder at her but gave no response. Harry and Ron looked over and saw Crys and Malfoy standing glaring at each other and started at a run back over to their dates.

Malfoy saw them coming and figured he had better wrap this thing up before they got there.

"Watch out for yourself, mudblood. There are a lot of angry Death Eaters out there right now, and you're on the top of their list."

Crys threw him a smile and said, "I'll be waiting."

Ron and Harry arrived just in time to hear Malfoys response.

"Be on your toes, whore." and he turned to leave.

Ron started after him with is hand in a fist but Crys put a hand on his arm, her eyes not once leaving the back of Malfoy's blonde head.

When he was out of sight she looked at Ron.

"Leave him alone. Poor git can't defend himself, the fight wouldn't be fair."

Ron swallowed hard and nodded, sitting down at the table. He handed Crys her drink as she sat down.

Crys all of a sudden smiled. When the other three looked at her questioningly she spoke.

"'Stay on your toes'? I'd like to see him wears heels this high." Her friends smiled and nodded without saying a word.

When they stepped outside into the brisk night air their jaws dropped at the brilliant decorations that had been put up for the ball. Their were bushes with little fairies in them like at the Yule ball but there were also a million candles flaoting over the lake. The small enchanted rowboats the first years use at the beginning of each year were set up at the water's edge for them to use. Harry and Hermione decided to go out on a boat but Ron and Crys just sat on a secluded bench surrounded by fairy-filled bushes on all sides.

"This has been an amazing night." Crys whispered, laying her head on Ron's shoulder.

"Yeah." Ron whispered back.

"Still think you wouldn't have come?"

"Nah, it was amazing."

"So better than the last one?"

"Much better."

"What happened that was so bad at the last one?"

"I ignored my date all night because I was so jealous of Krum and Hermione and the night ended in us getting into a fight."

"You and Hermione right?"

"Yeah. It was awful."

"I know."

"How do you know?"

"She came back to the dorm and cried her self to sleep that night. She really loves you two you know."

"Yeah she does doesn't she."

Crys sighed. They sat the same way for a while, her head on his shoulder just watching the little fairies socialize in the bushes.

"Ron,"

"Yes?"

"Are you ever going to kiss me?"

"I was only waiting for you to ask me."

"Sure you were."

"I was."

"Liar."

Crystal turned her head towards him and their lips met, just barely touching at first. Slowly they grew more agressive and Crys' hair fell loose down her back and her finger got lost in his hair. His hands slowly crept down the back of her gown and stopped right at the top of her thighs. They stood up together and turned in circles absentmindedly while their tounges played around between their lips. Her hands wandered up and around inside his jacket and he pulled his arms from around her only long enough for her to slide it off. She untied hie tie and trew it aside then moved on to his shirt and spent a few minutes fumbling with the buttons before pulling that off of him as well. She let her fingers run slowly in long, seductive movements up and down his bare back while Ron's hands found the zipper on the back of her gown and he slowly, playfully pulled in downwards. It got about halfway down before they heard their names being called from somewhere near the lake.

"Damn." Ron said as he pulled away from her and she sent him a look of deep longing. She picked up his jacket and waited for him to button up his shirt (which he did at full speed) to pull it over his shoulders. Just then Harry and Hermione rounded the corner and Ron and Crys turned towards them smiling, Ron blushing madly whereas Crys only had a twinge of pink barely visible in the dark of the night in her pale cheeks.

"Have you two been in here the entire time?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Crys was quick to answer before Ron started stumbling over his words again, "We were talking."

"Oh," Hermione said, "What did you talk about?"

Crys jumped quickly to answer again, "The Yule Ball, America, Ron's family. Lots of things."

"Ah." Harry said, "And Ron's tie just happened to fly away right in the middle of this in depth conversation?" He held up Ron's navy blue tie which he must have found on the ground. Crys grinned but Ron just blushed a deeper shade of red.

"Stop it, you two." Crys laughed, "I think if you keep going on he might explode." Ron playfully glared at her.

"It's late let's go." Hermione said.

The others nodded. As Herry and Hermione turned to leave and started to walk away Ron took advantage and zipped up the back of Crys' dress as quick as he could. They all walked back to Griffindor tower and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.


	11. quidditch hater!

**Chapter eleven**

The time over the next month blended together. Lessons turned into days and days into weeks. There were numerous quidditch practices in which the team came back just as muddy as the first. There were several other small events that passed as well; Pigwidgeon broke a wing, Snape walked in on Ron and Crys snogging (and deducted fifty points from Griffindor for misconduct) there was a slight controversy when Harry fell off of his broom and broke his nose once although Madam Pomfrey mended it in a second anyway.

By the time Halloween had rolled around everyone in Hogwarts knew about Ron and Crys' little 'hook-ups' but they still weren't officially dating. Harry thought he'd bring this up one day while he and Ron were in the library studying.

"Well...I don't know," Ron responded while choosing his words carefully, "I want to...it's just that..."

"You're afraid of rejection." Harry finished for him.

"Yeah."

"What is it about her that makes you so scared? You never used to act scared around girls, embarrassed, sure, but not quite so scared."

"I'm not scared when I'm around her, just when I think about her."

"But what is it about her?"

"She's got something magical about her, Harry."

"She's a witch, Ron."

"No not that," Ron said, not catching the sarcasm in his friend's voice, "The way she uses her hands, it's like she's...I don't know, she's just...really good with her hands."

"Wow," Harry looked slightly stunned, slightly impressed, "You two are fast."

"No. No," he added quickly, "Not that, she hasn't...duh Harry you are just trying to bug me now."

"I know."

"I just mean she's really good with her hands."

"Yeah, mum always said I should be a masseuse." Crys came up behind them, "I used to give her neck massages when she came home from work."

Crys was smiling although both boys were blushing slightly having been caught talking about her. She didn't seem to mind at all.

"Sorry." Ron said in a low tone.

"For what?" she asked him.

"For talking about you behind you back." Crys rolled her eyes.

"God, Ron! Do you know how concerned I would be if you _hadn't_ been talking about me? I would think I'm losing my touch."

"A bit confident aren't you?' Harry raised and eyebrow at her.

"Very." she told him, "Ron, can I talk to you in the hallway?"

"Sure." he got up and turned to Harry before following Crys out, "Be right back."

When the two had turned a few corners into their favorite dead end she turned around and he walked up to her and slid his hands around her waist. She in turn put her hands around his neck and quickly kissed him. She pulled away smiling while looking up into his deep eyes.

"Ron," she said in a falsely sweet tone, "When are we going to be official?"

"You heard Harry and me talking, didn't you?" he asked her.

"Yeah."

"Soon."

"How soon?" she put on a big fake pout.

"Soon enough.

"That's not soon enough for me."

"It's not?"

"Nope."

"Crys,"

"Yeah, Ron?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Wow, Ron! How'd you know?"

"Had a hunch. So will you?"

"Well I guess so. Under one condition."

Ron pulled her closer and kissed her passionately sqeezing his arms around her tightly before letting her pull back.

"And what's that?" he asked her with a smirk.

"Forgot." she said quickly and pulled him closer into another kiss, one which lasted about a minute longer than the last one.

"We should head back to the common room. It's getting late." she said after gingerly pulling away from his lips.

"Yeah." he sighed, and they set off towards Griffindor tower, hand in hand.

Harry waited about half an hour for Ron to get back before he gave up and brough both of their things back up to the common room. When he got there Ron and Crys sat by the fire in a cozy armchair, Crys in Ron's lap with his arms wrapped around her. Hermione sat next to them in another chair reading an abnormally thick book. Harry's usual chair sat on the other side of Ron and Crys, empty, the firelight flickering over it's maroon cushions.

Hermione looked up when she heard the portrait door swing open and she smiled when she saw Harry. She made a mock annoyed face and nodded towards the two snuggling in the chair next to her and she and Harry laughed. Ron turned to see waht was so funny but Crys' blue eyes didn't move from the flames before her.

"Are you two finally..." Harry cut off.

"Yeah." Ron said.

"Alright," Harry said somewhat bitterly, "Then I suppose I can forgive you for ditching me."

"Oh my god!" Crys gasped and looked up at Harry, "I'm so sorry! I can't beleive we forgot like that."

Harry nodded and settled into his chair. They all sat in awkward silence.

"So, Ron," Hermione started after a moment, "First quidditch match of the season this Saturday."

"Yeah." he responded.

Crys visibly cringed.

"What's wrong, Crys?" Harry asked her.

"Hate that you two play quidditch." she said, "It's so violent."

Ron sqeezed her closer, she snuggled her face into his chest and stopped moving, just listening to the slow, calm breathing patterns her boyfriend made. She suddenly stood up and announced she was going to bed.

Ron leaned forward for a kiss but she just smiled seductively and turned on her heel to walk up the girls' staircase.

"She's gonna drive you mad, mate." Harry told him.

"She already has." he told him and set off to bed himself.


	12. it was a long fall

**Chapter twelve**

"Ms. Noramison, I beleive it would be best if you would leave now," Madam Pomfrey said briskly, "They both need their rest."

Crys nodded silently. She sqeezed Harry's hand and gave Ron a gentle kiss on his unconcious lips. She looked back at them sadly before turning to leave.

On her way back to the Griffindor Tower she passed through the Entrance Hall and peeked through the large wooden doors into the Great Hall. She saw the through enchanted ceiling that the night was clear and even though it was only nine o'clock it was nearly December so the night sky was pitch black. The hall seemed so strange, all empty and quiet. No bustling around eating chatting like there had been that morning before the quidditch match. She walked over to the Griffindor table silently and stroked the back of Ron's chair gently. Just this morning he had sat there, not eating his breakfast even though his friends had prompted him. Ron was not at all good with nerves. She let the silent tears stream slowly down her pale cheeks as she lay down on the table, the days events replaying in her head like an old movie.

_Ron wouldn't eat a thing. He never did on gameday. That boy is stubborn as Hell. He sat there staring at his untouched porridge with a dirty scowl on his face._

_"Ron eat." Crys said from beside him, "You're worrying me."_

_"I'm fine." he mumbled, "Not hungry that's all." He stood up suddenly and set off out of the Great Hall for the Griffindor Captain's office. Crys chased after him._

_She ran up from behind and grabbed his arm. When he stopped she ran up around to face him in the nearly abandoned Entrance Hall._

_"Be careful, okay?" she had whispered before pulling him into a terribly tight hug and kissing him gingerly._

_He nodded silently and set off in the same direction._

That had been the last time she spoke to him. She just lay on her back on the table, her legs propped up. The tears rolled off her cheeks and she looked up at the night sky. _ It's not even the real sky_, she though, _nothing's real, this is just an awful dream, I'll wake up tomorrow and they'll both be fine._ She hadn't even close to convinced herself.

Her mind flashed back to the game. Seeing both Harry and Ron's bodies falling simultaniously a hundred feet towards the ground. Dumbledore had seen Harry and slowed him down when he was still fifty feet above the turf on the quidditch field, but he hadn't seen Ron until he was but five feet above. He hadn't softened the blow much. The chaos had been unbeleiveable and no one but the Griffindor quidditch team had been allowed in to see them for the first two hours. Hermione and Crys had sat on the floor outside the hospital wing silently for the whole time. The ran in when Ginny walked out, shaking her head. Neither of the boys had woken up.

"Now what are you up to?" a voice said from behind her. She sat up on the table and spun around to see Harry, standing in the doorway of the Great Hall. Her jaw dropped and she quickly hopped off of the table and ran over to meet him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, "How did you get Pomfrey to let you out?"

"Didn't," he said, "I snuck out."

"How's Ron?" she asked anxiously.

"No different."

She looked away and Harry saw her quickly swipe a tear before turning back.

"Oh God, Crys," he said pulling her into a tight hug, "He'll be okay. He always is in the end."

She nodded but he didn't think she was buying any of it.

He just hugged her closer and they stood there for a long time, waiting for something. Anything really. Just something to take her attention from Ron's state.

Crys awoke early the next morning. The sun had barely risen when she grabbed her robes and pulled them on over her pajamas. She ran through all of the twisted hallways of Hogwarts and stopped when she got to the door way of the Hospital Wing. She heard Madam Pomfrey talking.

"I just don't know Professor, you should probably alert his parents and siblings. They would probably like to see him before..."

Crys heard footsteps coming towards her and Professor Dumbledore opened the door and held it open upon seeing Crys. She nodded at him but the grave look on his face scared her near to death. She ran in and saw Harry sitting up in his hospital bed, but Ron hadn't moved at all.

Harry gave her the same grave look and she ran to Ron's bedside. She knelt down next to him and took his hand in hers before laying her head against his bandaged chest to listen for his heart. It had a slow, steady beat to it. Like it was just about to forget everything. She listened to this beat. She found comfort in it. Just knowing it was there. Just hearing it she knew everything was going to be alright. Then it stopped. All of a sudden the slow, steady beat that had just seconds before made her feel safe, was gone. Her own heart skipped two beats and her tears again strted flowing down her cheeks.

"It's not true." she whispered aloud, "I know it's not. Stop it Ron."

The beat did not return. With every second of silence her chest constricted further.

"You are a terrible liar, Ron!" she spoke at a reguler level this time, "You know you are."

She heard Harry sniffle from behind her.

"Stop lying to me Ron!" she was nealry screaming now, "I won't take it!"

She slapped him across the face. For a second the only sound was the echos of the slap. Crys had apalled herself. She slowly stood up and backed away from Ron's bed. She tripped on the leg of a chair near Harry's bed and fell into a crumpled pile onto the floor. Harry reached down and pulled her up until she was sitting. He leaned over the edge of his bed until he could hug her and she turned away from Ron's body and buried her face in Harry's shoulder, crying.

"What's this?" a voice came from behind her. She didn't move.

"I said what's this?" It came again, "I fall from my broom and get knocked out for what, a day? And when I wake up my girlfriend and my best friend are together? Is that really what I deserve?"

Both Harry and Crys' heads snapped up at his words and their mouth dropped open. Crys pulled away from Harry and stood up. She tried to run to Ron's bed but she tripped and slid there. She pulled herself up and grasped him firmly.

"Ow," he said, "Ow! Careful."

"Sorry, sorry." she said while crying and smiling at the same time, "Uh! God! You are such a jerk!" She positioned a hand on either side of his head and pulled him into a sloppy kiss.

"Ow!" he said, "Why is my face bruised? Can't Madam Pomfrey fix things like that?"

Harry laughed. Crys again put a hand on either side of his face, but this time a bit more gently. She just looked into his eyes silently and then melted away into tears on his lap, her legs still crumpled up beneith her on the concrete floor.

"Jerk." she mumbled again.

"Hermione! HERMIONE! He woke up! HE WOKE UP!" Crys ran into the Griffindor sixth year girls dorm.

She shook Hermione awake.

"What?" she said sleepily.

"He woke up! He woke up!" she said excitedly.

"He did?" she snapped awake.

"Yes! YES!"

"Okay, stop repeating everthing."

"Come on!" Crys pulled her out of bed and dragged her down a few stairs to the fifth year Griffindor girls dorms.

"Hold on." she said hurredly before running through that door too.

Hermione heard muffled yells through the door, "Ginny get up! Get up! He woke up!" She heard mumbling. And Crys yelled "YES!" she then ran out through the door holding Ginny by the wrist and grabbed Hermione the same way and dragged the two of them all the way down to the Hospital wing where they remained until halfway through the day when Ron was released. All the way back up to Griffindor tower Crys would not let go of him. She was so paranoid he would just collapse she kept an arm around his back at all times and there was a huge grin that seemed permanently attached to her face.

When they finally separated that night Crys was only in bed ten minutes before she decided that she couldn't stand it any more and snuck out to see Ron. She quietly crept all the way down through the common room and up the staircase opposite the one she came down. She slipped through the door as silently as she could. She picked out his bed by the trunk at the foot of it with R.B.W. engraved in a bronze plate. Crys crept over to the side of his bed and pulled the curtain aside, slipped inside with him, and pulled it shut again.

He woke up when he felt the side of his mattress dip down. He smiled when he saw his girlfriend slipping under the covers with him and scooted over a tiny bit so she would fit.

"What-" Crys cut him off with a finger to her lips

"Wand." she said. He pointed to his bedside table and she reached out, grabbed his wand, muttered a quick silencing spell on the bed, and replaced his wand.

"Fancy seeing you here." she said.

"What are you doing here, Crys?"

"Well I was going to come up and sleep with Seamus but then I figured, 'What the hell, my boyfriend isn't in a coma anymore so _I guess_ I could sleep with him instead.' That is," she added quickly, "If you are feeling well enough to handle me."

"I'm fine."

"That's what I thought. How's your cheek?"

"Fine. Madam Pomfrey healed it for me this morning."

"Sorry about that by the way."

"It saved my life stop apologizing."

Crys smiled.

"Besides," he added, "You know I can get a bit agressive myself sometimes."

"Oh, Ronald!" she said, tilting her head to the side with a small grin, "My memory seems to be failing me! Would you care to revive it for me?"

"Well I suppose I could." Ron grinned now too. Crys giggled, quite unlike herself.

The room outside the bed was unusually quiet with the lack of Ron's snoring and Harry figured he must have Crys over, _finally_.


	13. hide and seek

**Chapter thirteen**

When Crys woke up in the morning she was curled up inside of Ron's strong form. His powerful arms were wrapped around her and she felt so safe she never wanted to move. But she had to, someone was coming.

Dean's voice rang up from the staircase, "Ron!"

Crys silently shook Ron awake and he loostened his grip on her. When she heard Dean right outside Ron's bedframe she waited until just the right moment and just as he threw the curtains on one side of the bed open Crys rolled off the other side onto the floor.

"What was that?" Dean asked after hearing a small _thump_ from the other side of Ron's bed

"What was what?" Ron said as Crys silently crept over to the next bed over in the circular room to hide in until Dean was gone. She pulled herself up behind the curtains as quick as she could, still in her lacy black bra and panties. She held her breath as Dean looked around Ron's bed. She felt something move behind her and turned around to see Harry still sleeping behind her. _Damn,_ she thought and clapped a hand over his mouth so he wouldn't make a noise. But one still came. A small shreik from Harry's other side.

"Hermione?" Crys whispered, shocked.

Hermione pulled the sheets up around her to cover herself as she pressed a finger to her lips at Crys, who's jaw was currently hanging open.

Dean left after Ron had assured him he had no idea where Ginny was. Ron came over to get Crys out of Harry's bed which he thought was unoccupied. Crys shoved Hermione down under the sheets and mouthed the word _Sleep_ to Harry as he pulled open the curtains. She pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to Harry who was 'asleep' and Ron nodded at her helped her off of the bed.

That morning at breakfast the list was passed around to see who was staying at Hogwarts during Christmas. Crys signed up, she was the only Griffindor on the list.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked her glancing at her name on the list.

"Signing up to stay here over break. I'm not going ack to my aunt's and I really don't feel like going back to America, ever since Chad..." Ron put a comforting hand on her lower back.

"Crys," he said smoothly, "I told you last week that my mum agreed to let you come back to the Burrow for Christmas."

"What?" she asked him, stunned, "You did not."

"Yes I did."

"When?"

"Last Tuesday."

"Tuesday as in when I was so sleepy I fell asleep over my homework in the common room at seven o'clock?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you think I would remember?"

"'Well you can come with us."

"Good." she said simply and crossed her name off of the list.

Classes were insanely long that day. Just as they were walking out of their last class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures, A Slytherin girl named Karen pulled Crys aside to talk to her.

"Look, Noramison," she started suddenly, "I'm gonna make my point and I'm gonna make it clear. I'm only going to say this once, stay away from Ron."

"What?" Crys said innocently.

"I said stay away from Ron."

"That was twice and your pitiful little threats couldn't make me stay away from Ron if my life depended on it. Face it, you're slow, I got him first and you," she pointed a finger in Karen's face, "Are going to have to live with that."

Karen reached out and hit Crys so hard that she fell backwards into the mud. Karen started at her again but Crys grabbed her wand yelled, "Stupefy!" from her spot on the ground and Karen fell backwards into the mud as well. Crys stood up, unfazed, and headed back to the Griffindor Common Room.

"What happened to you, Crys?" Ron asked worriedly, standing up to cup her face in his hands so she would look up into his face.

"Nothing." she said simply and tried to pull away but he wouldn't let go.

"Nothing gave you a black eye and soaked you?" he asked her.

"It was a very aggressive nothing." she answered and sucessfully pulled away this time to sit in a chair by the fire.

"Crystal, I am serious," he knelt in front of her and looked straight into her eyes, "Tell me who did this to you. It wasn't Malfoy was it?"

"No." she responded, amused, "You think he could do this?" she pointed to her eye.

"It was Karen Drabbats." Hermione spoke from behind her thick book.

"Was it?" Ron forced Crys to look into his eyes again.

She nodded. Ron stood up and ran a frustrated hand through his red hair.

"It's wicked sexy when you do that." Crys told him absentmindedly.

"Why did she do this to you?" he asked her.

"She has a little crush on you. That's all." Crys said softly.

"What?" Ron turned to her.

"Well she does."

"What did she say to you, Crys?"

"She warned me to stay away from you."

"And what did you say back."

"That's not important."

"Tell me."

"I told her that I'm not afraid of her and that I got you first."

He didn't respond but she did see a hint of a smile on his lips. She patted her lap for him to sit on it. He did. Without putting all his weight on her, of course. She leaned her head against the back of the armchair and closed her eyes. He reached over and stroked her hair. Crys might've fallen asleep then, she might've just been so sleepy that she walked up to bed herself but when she woke up in the morning her eye was throbbing and she was hating Karen Drabbats.


	14. falling snow

**Chapter fourteen**

Her hate towards Karen practically melted away when she saw the snow outside. It had snowed late that year, but it was still snow. She was so happy. Unbeleiveably happy. By the time she walked out to breakfast that morning she was ecstatic. Ron saw the look on her face the moment she walked into the Great Hall.

"Why are you so happy?" He asked her, although he was smiling.

"Why can't I be?" she asked him.

"I was just asking." he took a bite of toast, "So how's your eye?"

"Perfect." she sighed looking longingly towards the enchanted ceiling where the snowflakes were gently drifting towards them.

He raised an eyebrow and followed her line of vision to the cloudy sky above them.

"You like snow." he said.

"What was your first clue?" Crys responded sarcastically, "Wanna go out and play?"

"Are you being serious?"

"Yes. There's still an hour until Transfiguration."

"Alright." he gave in easily this time, just because she looked so happy.

On their way out he looped his arm around her waist. She stopped and pulled a scarf, hat and matching mittens out of her bag. She pulled them on and grabbed Ron's wrist pulling him out the door running as fast as she could. She stopped when she took her first step into the snow, her eyes wide. She let go of his wrist and slowly continued walking out into the cold. Her cheeks grew pink as she spun in circles, leaving footprints in the perfect snow and snowflakes catching in her dark hair. She stopped to face Ron, who was still standing on the front steps of the castle watching her move, and she walked towards him a lopsided smile crawling across her red lips. She grasped a hand around each of his wrists and slowly walked backwards pulling him onto the white grounds. She stopped about ten feet from the school and wrapped her arms around his neck, looking into his eyes. She felt his strong arms wrap themselves firmly around her waist and lifted her feet six inches off of the ground she her eyes were level with his. They kissed slowly and Crys wiggled her hips to snuggle closer to him in the insane cold. He smiled into the kiss at feeling this and was about to take their kiss to a different level when-

"Could you get room, Weasley," said the drawling voice of Malfoy, "I am not enjoying this show you are putting on, and you should get your slutty, mudblood girlfriend out of here before something happens to her."

Ron was about to put Crys down and beat Malfoy to a pulp but Crys spoke first, "So Draco, doll," she barely pulled her face away from Ron's, "How is _your _girlfriend?" Malfoy glared at the couple and pulled out his wand. He threw a hex at them, but Ron suddenly flung them to the side and into the snow as Crys pulled his wand out of the back of his robes and threw one back that didn't miss. Malfoy giggled, looked offended, giggled and stormed off giggling, to Professor Snape, no doubt, leaving Ron free forty minutes to take it to all the levels he wanted to.

_Dear Ron,_

_Meet me tonight in the astronomy tower at eleven for a surprise. Don't ask me anything about it or I'll call it off._

_All my love,_

_Crystal_

Ron read the note through several times at the breakfast table the next morning. He tucked the note into his pocket as Harry entered the Great Hall. He smiled to himself as they set off for Defense Against the Dark Arts. What could she have in store...

Ron headed to the Astronomy Tower at ten of eleven under Harry's invisibility cape thet night. He was really excited about Crys' surprise. What she could be up to he had no idea, but he was looking forward to it.

When he walked into the room at the top of the tower there was Karen, dressed in cheap lingere, wand ready to curse him when he walked through the door. And she did.

_Honestly,_ Crys thought as she walked nervously to the Astronomy tower, _does that girl think I am _that _stupid? The note was right there in his pocket. Idiot._ She tried to keep back in the shadows because Ron had already taken Harry's invisibility cloak, although Harry had lent her the Mauderer's Map which currently showed Filch and Mrs. Norris on the trail of Seamus and Lavender, who were in a broom closet two floors below her. When she finally reaached the Tower she wiped the map clean and checked her watch. It was 11:08. _Perfect._

She threw the door open and saw Ron, his eyes randomly darting to strange corners of the room at even intervals, and Karen laying next to him, obviously posing, with her head propped up on her hand.

"Oh Karen!" Crys exclaimed, "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it was your night with Ron! Is it Wednesday already? I'll be off then." She turned to leave but Karen wasn't so happy with her reaction.

Her eyes narrowed and jaw dropped in disgust. She mumbled something along the lines of _dirty Griffindors_ and stormed out of the room. The second the door slammed behind her the spell on Ron broke and his eyes looked normal again as they fell on Crys.

"Where's Karen?" he said absentmindedly.

_Playing with his head a little won't hurt._ Crys thought and she looked offended by his last statement. She grabbed the invisibility cloak he had left lying on the floor and stormed out. On the Mauderer's map she saw Filch headed towards Ron and decided it probably wouldn't be best if he got in _that_ much trouble so she whispered a quick spell to crash some things over in the charms classroom and the dot labeled Filch and the dot labeled Mrs. Norris both ran towards the sound from different directions.

_Why did I say that? Why would I say that. My girlfriend, the best thing to happen to me, ever, was standing right there after seeing me with that slut and I practically broke her heart by asking for the girl who gave her a black eye two days ago. I can't beleive it. She's going to hate me. What will I say?_ Ron heard a loud crash from across the castle. He set off at a run towards Griffindor tower. when he whispered the password and climbed through the portrait hole after a dissapproving look from the fat lady he heard something behind him. He spun around and Crys jumped out at him from behind a chair.

"Crys!" he started, "It wasn't me! Sh-"

"I know." she smiled at him and pecked him on the lips, "But I had you going for a while there didn't I?"

"You-" he gave her a releived smile and tackled her onto a nearby sofa where he began to tickle her like crazy. Her giggles echoed through the empty common room and up through the dorms. When Ginny came down to see what was wrong she saw Crys and her brother laughing and snuggling on the couch. She smiled and wondered why she couldn't find a man as great to her as her brother was to Crys.


	15. orange walls and freckled faces

**Chapter fifteen**

Even with Ron's arm around her shoulders, standing at the train station in Hogsmeade, Crys couldn't warm up in the cold. She looked over at Ginny, on the other side of Ron in the same position as herself, and couldn't help but notice her frown as she stared out into the countryside. She smiled at her boyfriend's sister but it went unseen.

The train slowly pulled into the station and Ron kissed both of them on top of the head before grabbing their luggage, bag by bag, and handing it to the baggage boy, who gave Ginny a once-over before turning with the baggage trolly to load them into a cargo car.

They climbed into the train and found a compartment of their own. The five of them (including Harry and Hermione who were also coming to the burrow) all took a seat. Ron again sat jokingly on Crys' lap and the other three positioned themselves comfortably on the seat opposite.

Harry and Ron again got started on Quidditch. How they can talk about the same things over and over, no one else in the compartment understood, and Crys could see it on the faces of Hermione and Ginny. Boredom. Why not make things interesting? Crys let her curly hair fall in her face and bent over Ron's neck slowly before making a wet circle with her tounge. Harry hadn't noticed and kept talking. She pulled back a bit and blew on the spot slowly, sending shivers up his spine.

"B-but everyone knew th-that it w-was only a-a one s-season th-thing." he wanted to groan and if she kept this up he would. Hermione giggled at it and Ginny smiled lighty. They were the only one's who knew what was going on. Harry remained clueless.

"But the Tornadoes are making a comeback, just last week-" he stopped as Ron stood up.

"Crys," he said slowly, "could I see you outside for a minute?"

"Why yes, dear." Crys responded, mockingly innocent sounding. Hermione giggled again and Ginny shook her head before turning to stare out the window.

Ron pulled her up and out of the compartment. She was smiling giddily.

"Do you find this funny?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"You're insane."

"I know."

Ron had no idea how to respond so he walked back inside the compartment, leaving her in the hallway alone. She felt a light tap on her shoulder and spun around. Malfoy.

"If you would kindly move, mudblood." he drawled.

"That's not even insulting anymore," she said, "It's just annoying."

Draco leaned back to whisper to Goyle in a tone that he clearly wanted her to hear, "Damn Griffindors. Half of 'em are mudbloods and the other half are orphans. Thinks it gives 'em special rights."

Crys didn't even speak. She just punched him in the nose and he fell backwards, knocking the compartment door open and falling in on Cry's friends.

"Now Draco, if you can gather the courage, go tell Snape how you stood up to the poor mudblood orphan Griffindor, but the little girl clocked you. I'm sure I'll get at lest two detentions." She stepped over him and sat down next to Ron. Everone there was gaping at the scene in front of them. Malfoy stood up hastily and scrambled out of there as fast as a ferret.

Ron just hugged Crys as they pulled into King's Cross station.

After the usual Weasley greetings (Mrs. Weasley hugs everyone at least twice) they set off for the Burrow and arrived in half an hour. Hermione, Crys and Ginny set off for Ginny's room and Harry and Ron for Ron's. After they were all settled in Ron gave Crys the grand tour while the rest went downstair to tell Mrs. Weasley about Hogwarts.

Ron saved his own room for last. He stood in front of the door and made her close her eyes. He pulled her through the doorway and gave her permission to open them. She saw the orange and smiled.

"Reminds me of Steffie." she said still looking around.

"Who's Steffie?" Ron asked.

"My best friend ever."

"I thought that Jenna-"

"Is my best friend in the UK. Steffie is my best friend ever. I've been friends with her since the first grade when we spit gum in each other's hair and had to get it all cut off. She loved orange," Crys ran her fingers along the steel wires of Pig's cage, "Her room is the same orange. I stay there each summer. Honestly I don't think it would ever be summer without Steffie's orange room." She flopped down on Ron's bed, "Mmm, I like it."

Ron nodded as he flopped down next to her and shimmied his arm under her and around her shoulders. He turned his head and just breathed in her scent. Lilac. Always lilac. She turned to face him. They both smiled, their faces just centimeters apart. She kissed the tip of his frekled nose and pulled away to the same distance as he scowled.

"You don't like your freckles do you?" she asked him in a whisper.

"No. I've always hated them. They just always seemed in the way."

"I like them." she whispered as they leaned in towards each other.

"How touching." came a voice from the door. Fred.

"Dinner." George.

Crys laughed and hopped off of the bed. They all walked down to dinner together Fred and George subtlely whispering about how they liked each other's freckles.


	16. under the dragon's rule

**Chapter sixteen**

Crys and Ron had been snogging on Ron's bed for twenty minutes now. They were wearing less and less clothing with each passing minute.

Crys suddenly pulled away.

"Wait." she said, "Are you getting bored?"

"You're bored with me?" Ron looked astonished.

"No, no not you nessesarily, but how. Don't you ever want to be a bit more reckless?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Want to go to your parents room this time?"

"Are you mad?"

"Yes, we've already talked about that." she continued, "They're out of town until tomorrow afternoon and they're room is empty..."

"You want to...?" he was stunned at her.

"You're afraid," she flung herself back onto the bed, "I knew you would be."

"I am not afraid."

"Then you'll do it?"

"Yes." _Are you insane, Ron?_ he thought_, No but Crys is. _

They slowly crept down the stairs onto the next level of the house. Crys pressed her finger to hers lips as if Ron had no idea he needed to be quiet when sneaking around with his girlfriend at eleven at night, and peeked inside the room. She quickly snapped the door shut.

"You know maybe we shouldn't," she started talking fast, "It _is _your parents room an we might just feel eternally guilty so we should just go back to your room now." she started pushing him back up the stairs.

"What don't you want me to see?" he pushed past her and opened the door a crack. He peered in and saw Ginny and Harry messing around, to put it lightly. His eyes became wide as he clicked the door shut and walked past Crys up to his bedroom. He sat on his bed in the dark and stared into the corners with an emotionless look that scared Crys on his face. She ran after him and kneeled down on the orange rug at the side of his bed. She placed a hand on either side of his head and forced him to look into her eyes. His looked tireless and empty. She slapped him. It didn't work. He just got up and ran past her out the door and all the way through his house until he was out in the snow. she followed and knelt next to him. They sat in silence for about ten minutes and Ron spoke first.

"Why do you like the snow so much?"

"It just seems magical doesn't it? That probably sounded weird coming from a witch but when I was little it was the best thing in the world. I remember one time I was so excited, it was the first snow of the year. I ran around for an hour, gathering all my winter wear to keep me warm so I could play in the snow. I had just bundled up and my mum swung the door open and all I remember seeing was my precious snow melting into muddy puddles all over the front lawn."

Ron just nodded and stared further into the blinding whiteness.

"Why are they still gone, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley had been worriedly ranting for ten minutes now, "They should have gotten back half an hour ago, something, _anything_, could have happened to them."

"Molly, they're fine," her husband assured her "Those three are more than capable of taking care of themselves."

"I don't know Arthur."

Ron walked into the room, sneezed, and said, "Are they still gone?"

"Yes!" his mother answered.

"Molly they probably just lost track of time. They'll be home soon." Mr. Weasley repeated for the third time.

Ron sat down at the kitchen table and watched the fireplace, from which the girls should have arrived by at three. He watched it for a while. A long while. His parents joined him. Harry joined him. The twins joined him. No one came home.

Crys, Hermione and Ginny all sat, their hands tied behind their backs, in an old abandoned room in the Malfoy Manor. There was always a guard on the door. Right now it happened to be Narcissa. She glared at the teenagers lying helpless in front of her. Her son entered to take over the watch. They could always have servants watch over them but they trusted no one but family since their cook had betrayed them last fall. Draco took a seat in the arm chair near the door, twirling his wand between his fingers.

"So mudblood," he looked to Crys who glared but didn't speak due to the gag in her mouth, "Don't feel so powerful now do we?"

She grunted through the gag. He flicked his wand and removed it.

"When are we going?" she asked him sweetly, referring to her execution date in front of all of the remaining Death Eaters.

"Tomorrow." he smiled a genuine smile.

"Then may I tell you a secret while the others are sleeping?"

"Do I look like I want to know your secrets?"

"You haven't anything better to do."

"Go ahead." he said boredly.

"You're all I ever wanted."

"What?"

"I've always wanted you, Draco. Ever since the first day I saw you. But that damned hat put me in Griffindor. And I focused on my studies instead. But I still wanted you. Your body is just so," she licked her dry lips, "attractive."

He smiled. No girl had ever acted quite this fast with him before. What could it hurt giving her a last wish? She was dying tomorrow. No one would ever know. He loostened her ropes and the buttons on her shirt. She gulped and swallowed her fears. _This is our lives we're talking about, Crys. Suck it up and get it over with._

Two hours later Ginny, Crys and Hermione were standing outside dressed in dark cloaks with the hoods pulled over their faces. They were in the back lot of the Manor and heading towards the woods, where they would use a portkey back to the Burrow.

"I'll see you in school," Crys whispered in Draco's ear before he pulled her to him suddenly, bruising her arms, and kissed her. She did her best to kiss him back as if she meant it. She licked his lips one last time and set off into the forest with her friends.

_You are going to get a hell of a beating for this one. _Draco thought, _But it will be worth it. There's something magical about that girl's hands._ He walked back up to find his father with his story of dozing off and waking to find them gone.

The Weasleys and Harry still sat worriedly around the table at one in the morning when they heard a crash upstairs. They all ran at once to find three girls, bruised and starving, crumpled in one big pile at the bottom of the stairs.


	17. what she did

**Chapter seventeen**

"How is she?" Ginny asked nervously, trying to peek through the small crack in the doorway into her brother's room at her friend.

"She still hasn't said a word." Harry said, equally as nervous. Ron didn't speak he just sat a Crys' bedside holding her hand.

"What could have happened that was so bad as to do this?" Harry asked Ginny.

"I don't know. Neither does Hermione," she responded, "I mean, they beat us. They beat us til near death. But they treated her different. And somehow, somehow, she managed to convince Draco to let us go."

She hadn't done anything since they had returned two days ago. She just leaned on Ron, dazed, and collapsed on his bed, where she still lay, staring at the ceiling, her eyes looking scared and lost. She hadn't eaten a thing, despite Mrs. Weasley's desperate attempts to sit her up and force a bowl of hot soup into her system.

Ron had hardly eaten a thing either. He always sat at the side of his own bed, watching her hopefully, sometimes talking to her. Occasionally he would look at the spot on the ceiling that she continued to focus on, but he found no comfort. Now he was again talking, telling her she could tell him anything, anything at all, that no matter how bad it had been he was here for her, they all were. It didn't matter. She didn't move. She didn't blink. Nothing.

Ron has been telling me about how much support they have for me for two days now. I can't tell him what happened. It was awful. Terrible. That man is brutal. If you can even call Malfoy a man. More of a fiend. I have never been with such a brutal man in my life. Everything hurts. Everything. Especially where no one thought to check me for wounds. I'll be damned if I ever have sex again. God this is terrible! My boyfriend is sitting next to me. The one I love. Even after I swore I'd never love again. I can't even tell him. I can only lay here, staring into space, seeing every memory I had ever hoped to forget. Every image I thought I had forced out of my mind.

I see Draco's ardent eyes reflecting all that I have ever despised and hated. In his ice cold eyes I see snow melting into muddy puddles on the other side of a screen door. I see my mother's casket lowering below the ground. I see my father yelling, whiskey at hand, forcing me to pack my bags and go to England. I see my aunt's scowl as she finds me on her door step. I see my hair being pulled away from my face as I empty my stomach into a toilet after another tough breakup. I see Chad and that girl together in my bedroom. I see the cold face of Voldemort as I suck up to that wizard who made my friends' life hell. And I see Ginny and Hermione beaten with different objects from around the Malfoy Manor as Draco has his way with me.

Tears start to stream down my face and Ron reaches over to wipe them away, but I still cannot speak.

Harry sat at the table in the Weasley's kitchen that evening with Ron who he had finally convinced to leave Crys' side for an hour so he could eat. Ron pushed his food around on his plate without bringing a mouthful near his lips.

"Ron you have to eat."

"I am."

"You are a terrible liar."

"I know." there was no emotion left in Ron's voice, "I wish I knew what they had done to her, the dirty bastards."

Words started playing through Harry's head like the final pieces to a puzzle.

_Are you an actress? Well, when I want to be._

_The way she uses her hands, it's like she's...I don't know, she's just...really good with her hands._

_And somehow, somehow, she managed to convince Draco to let us go._

It all made sense. The only thing Harry could think was _She wouldn't._ but he knew that she would. She would do anything for her friends. He stood up suddenly and mumbled to Ron that he was going to the loo and left the room for the one at the top of the stairs.

When he reached Crys' bedside he spoke softly.

"Crys, I know what you did."

Her eyes widened slightly but she still didn't speak.

"Can I..." he cut off and lifted her shirt slightly so he could see her stomach. It was covered in cuts and bruises and small unwanted lovebites. He thought for a minute before he spoke.

"Crys, how did you get him to let you go? Even Malfoy isn't dumb enough to just have his way and kill you. What did you do?"

She spoke in a hoarse and barely loud enough to hear tone, "Promised more."

"You promised him more? Like you would do it again?"

She nodded twice.

"Oh my God, Crys." he said stunned and hugged her as close as he could without hurting her, "We will never let him near you again, NEVER." Crys started to cry but her tears were absorbed into the black of Harry's t-shirt as he hugged her.

Ron sat with his head in his hands at the table. Harry had just told him what he had learned from his last conversation with Crys. Ron ran his hands through his hair again before he ran up to his room to see Crys.

He stopped just outside the door, this may be a sticky subject. He slowly opened his bedroom door and closed it the same way after he stepped inside.

He stood beside her. Her eyes were no longer on the ceiling but on him. On his face. His every move. He ran his fingers through his hair again.

"Did I ever tell you how sexy it is when you do that?" Crys smiled at him lightly. He grinned back and layed down next to her, wrapping his arms around her tender body, protecting her from all harm. And as the snow became to fall onto the cold world, Ginny sat in her bedroom alone on Christmas Eve, trying to figure out why she was so madly in love with Dean.


	18. happy christmas

**Chapter eighteen**

Christmas Day. The happiest of times. They, being the Weasleys, Harry, Crys and Hermione, sat around the kitchen table of the Burrow. Each of them sporting a brand new Weasley sweater. Ron, of course, scowled at his, traditionally maroon, but everyone else was happy with thiers. The twins had treated them all to candies, none of which anyone was dumb enough to eat, and Crys, Ginny and Hermione had pooled their money and bought several dozen cases of butterbeer.

Crys appeared to be happy. Her smile looked to be stuck onto her face last minute and hardly seemed genuine. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley didn't pay enough attention to notice, and the twins didn't really know Crys, but everyone else recognized her sad attempt to act. The events of the week had taken their toll on her because the show was not at all convincing. She sat on the corner of Ron's chair with her head leaned back exaustedly on his chest. His arms were wrapped comfortingly around her, but she had to work to keep the smile there.

As soon as they were all done unwrapping gifts Mrs. Weasley set off into the kitchen to make dinner and evryone else went back to their ends of the house to get ready for the rest of the day. While Crys was pulling out her clothes for the day an owl flew into the window and dropped a package in front of her. She looked surprised. _Who do I know who would send things by owl?_ she thought.

"Who's that from?" Ginny asked from across the room, halfway done buttoning up her blouse. She and Hermione walked over on either side of Crys to see what it was. Crys turned the package over and read the return address written hastily in the corner of the brown paper;

Stefanie Rosoman

726 Flint St.

Cartsville OH.

U.S.A.

Crys smiled and ripped off the paper. A letter fell out along with two packages. She picked up the letter first. Ginny and Hermione read over her shoulder,

_Talli,_

_Merry Christmas! It's been so boring since you left. There has been nothing to talk about, except maybe that Barbra Gellar broke up with Phil because his sister's dating Mark Whetman. Mark Whetman! She's crazy. All of them are. _

_The little package is from your dad. He gave it to me last week when I ran into him in the Quick-Stop and he asked me to send it to you since you never gave him your address. He's already got another wife. A ditsy, bleach-blonde named Catherine. I suggest you wait until she's gone to go see your father._

_I hope you like your present. I had to search four malls to find the perfect one. I'm sure you'll love it but in the unlikely event that you despise it then it isn't returnable so just shove it in a drawer and pretend to like it so as not to hurt my feelings._

_All my love,_

_Steffie_

She smiled as her eyes traveled back and forth across the page several times. She laughed at the end and picked up the smaller package. She slowly pulled off the wrappings and saw a cheap, silver coloured bracelet, with multicloured hearts hanging off every inch or so. There was no note. Just a crappy bracelet. Crys simply rolled her eyes and tossed it into her trunk.

"I'm sure he thought' you'd lik-" Hermione started.

"Don't even try, Hermione," Crys spoke calmly, "It's always been like that. Ever since Mum passed. I'm plenty used to it." She shrugged it off and picked up the gift from Steffie.

She peeled away the brightly coloured paper and something silky slipped out onto the spare bed that Crys was staying on. Hermione gasped as she reached down and then held up a shimmery dress of deep purple that seemed to conform to the hands holding it up. She looked at it admirably. She smiled, a real smile, at the silky dress and gently laid it out of her bed before pulling out a stationary set and setting to writing a letter that turned out _very_ long all the while smiling to herself.

"Mum I really don't want to dress up." Ron whined in the kitchen that day to his mother who was working tirelessly to produce a flawless Christmas dinner.

"Ronald Weasley," she started on him, "This is a family tradition and when you are in this house on Christmas Day you are to dress appropriately for the holiday dinner." There was a certain finality in her tone.

Ron didn't say another word, purely because he knew the capabilities of his mother. He walked out of the kitchen as calmly as he could.

When he reached his room everone was in there playing either exploding snap or wizard's chess or in one case, reading.

"No luck." he said to his siblings and friends.

"Little brother you just do not appreciate the quality of a formal meal do you." Fred said.

"It is an enriching experience," George continued.

"That teaches us important life lessons,"

"Like how to tie a neck tie,"

"Or how to treat a lady,"

"Or where the soup spoon goes in relation to the water glass." Ron groaned. The twins apparated to their own room.

Ginny giggled and Crys spoke.

"I like the idea of formality."

"Why?" Ron asked her and Harry looked at her with the same expression.

"Because I find it fun." she argued.

"She got a new dress for Christmas." Ginny said while directing her knight to take out Harry's last pawn.

"When? I didn't see it." Ron looked to his girlfriend.

"It came later." she said simply.

"Can I see it?"

"Um...yeah." she responded and followed him out the door to Ginny's room.

She led him into Ginny's room and knelt in front of her trunk, digging through her possesions to reach her dress at the bottom.

Ron was looking around his sister's room awkwardly, he was obvioulsy not in there often.

"So..." he started, looking at the high ceiling from his spot on Crys's bed, "Who sent it to you?"

"Steffie." she responded without looking up.

"Ah..." he seemed to be growing more awkward.

"What is it, Ron?"

"What is what?"

Crys took a break from searching through her trunk and looked up at him.

"What do you mean 'What is what?' You're acting odd and I want to know why."

"It's nothing."

"Why do you continue to lie to me after I have repeatedly confirmed to you that you are quite pointless at lying?"

"Well..." _still awkward_, "It's just that you..." _no eye contact,_ "Just yesterday you were," _hand through the hair thing. Damn that one gets me every time,_ "seeming a bit..." he stopped.

"Insane?"

"Well...yeah."

"Ron," she stood up and walked toward him, gently lowering herself onto the bed next to him, "I know it's hard to understand but you have to. I didn't do it because I'm attracted to him in any way. I did it because I hoped it would get us out of there. And it did. But I will tell you, " she looked into his eyes with such a sense of seriousness he had never seen there before, "I regret it."

"You look a-amazing." Ron said in awe of Crys as she stepped out of Ginny's room that evening for dinner. Cry's dress looked even more amazing on her. The deep purple complimented her light skin tone and the neckline of the dress dropped just low enough. Just. There were no sleeves and her shoulders would have been exposed were it not for the sheer purple sweater-wrap she had on.

"Not so bad yourself." she said to her boyfriend with a wide smile. He and Harry were both wearing the same suits they had worn to the ball.

They all walked down to dinner together. When they arrived the table looked amazing. It was set with dishes of a transparent blue glass, lined with silver. Blue lillies were floating in a crystal bowl filled with water in the center of the table. There were silver candelabras at either end of the long table who's candlelight cast golden rays across the stunned faces of the five in the doorway.

"Come in, sit!" called Mrs. Weasley happily, quite satisfied with the feast she had prepared.

They sat. They ate. They drank. Maybe a bit more than nessessary.

"Happy Christmas." Harry said at the end of the meal.

They all held up their glasses in a mute toast and took a final swig for the night.

Crystal sat alone outside the back of the Burrow in Mrs. Weasley's garden. It wasn't much of a garden now, the snow had pretty much destroyed it. She sat on a stone bench, facing away from the Burrow, and looked out down the hillside over the field where the Weasleys usually play quidditch. It was covered in snow. Beautiful snow. So white and untouched, like the hair off the head of a Malfoy. She put her hands over her eyes to block out the images that were again replaying themselves in her mind.

"What are you doing out here? It's freezing." Ron's voice came from behind her.

"I'm not cold." Her voice was quiet.

"You're shivering." He put his coat over her shaking shoulders.

"Thanks." Still quiet.

"Crys," he said slowly as if not quite sure if he should say this at all, "You know that if you need to you can talk to me about...what happened."

She shook her head. He was about to sit down next to her when his name was called from the house behind them.

"Ron! RON!" George yelled.

"You've go to see this!" his twin assisted.

"The mirror!"

"In the kitchen!"

"It's got some new catch phrases!"

"One-hundred and one actually!"

Ron smiled and began walking up the hill towards the warmth of home.

"You coming?" he asked Crys.

"Nah," she said, "I'll be up in a little while."

"Alright." he said and trudged off in the snow to see which vulgar things the twins had enchanted the mirror to say this time.

"Crys, how long have you been sitting here?" Harry asked her, walking down the hill from the burrow. Hearing the first forty-nine catch phrases the mirror had was quite enough for him.

"A while." she said quietly.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, "Other than the obvious."

"Nothing. Just the obvious."

"You know," he said as he sat down next to her on the cold bench, "You always tell Ron what a bad liar he is, but I can see right through you. Tell me what it is. What you're thinking right at this very moment."

"I love him." Crys said simply, staring out over the quidditch field again.

Harry didn't know what to say at first. She hadn't really specified him and he didn't know exactly which him she loved.

"Ron?"

"Of course Ron."

"Well, I didn't..." he stopped before he said anything stupid.

They sat in silence for a long time. By now it was only light enough just to make out where each other were in the moonlight. They both stared out at the field and tried to decide what to say to the other. Crys was better at making up her mind.

"Can I tell you a story?"

"Yeah..." Harry was lost, "Sure."

"One day when I was a little girl," she started slowly, putting the words together inside her head, "I was playing in my backyard and a beautiful woman walks up to me. My mother had always thaught me never to talk to strangers but this one was special, I could tell. I had thought she was my Fairy Godmother. Now I know she was a veela." Crys shook her head and continued, "She told me she had lost her necklace, and if I helped her find it she would give me a gift. So as any child with the idea of a gift I searched for her necklace. I found it too. I guess she didn't have very good eyesight. It had been a pendant, silver, with little onyx stones inset in it in the shape of a dragon. She thanked me and said some words I didn't understand. It was a charm. I was sad she hadn't given me my gift, even though she insisted she had. She told me one day, you will be able to make the boys do what you want. And of course I thought, 'Yuck! Boys?' but she dissappeared and I never saw her again."

"So what did the charm do to you?" Harry asked, somewhat confused.

"My _touch_. I heard you and Ron talking about me that one day in the library. I have a magic touch. I guess it's veela like, but instead of just seeing me, I have to touch them. That's what I used on Malfoy. That's why I'm alive today. And this wasn't a charm, Harry, it was a curse."

Harry could see the tears stream down her face.

"Do you think she meant it to be a curse?" he asked her softly.

"No, but it is. I love Ron, Harry. I love him so much. But I'm so afraid to tell him because I think the only reason he wants me is because of the charm."

"That's not true." Harry stated so firmly it started the girl next to him.

"How do you know?" she asked him hopefully.

"Because he wanted you for so long before you touched him. Since that first night we met last summer."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I have never been so sure about anything in my life." he stated firmly and gave her a tight hug befre pulling her up and leading her back to the Burrow.

_Cheesy line, _Crys thought, _But it came from the heart, right?_


	19. you can't be serious

**Chapter nineteen**

"See you in an hour." Crys said and kissed Ron on the cheek. She climbed into the ministry cars that Fudge had felt the need to lend them since he had caused so much 'trouble' for Harry the last year. She sat down next to Ginny and Hermione, her Pumpkin Blush fingernails flashing in the bright winter sunlight.

"Do you usually paint your nails?" Ginny asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Crys sighed as she examined her fingers with a look of distaste, "But Jenna sent me a bottle for Christmas and I thought I'd use it just this once in honor of her. I plan to take it off by the time classes start again."

Hermione laughed and Ginny smiled. Crys tilted her head at Ginny's smile, which had been hiding for quite a while, but she didn't say anything because she saw Hermione shake her head from behind Ginny. They sat in silence for the rest of the journey to King's Cross.

"How was your car ride?" Ron asked as he got out of the second ministry car in front of the train station.

"Quiet." Crys told him as he loaded a trunk onto a trolly for her, "Your's?"

"Not as much so." He put his own trunk on the same trolly, "Pig got loose again but this time he just flew into Hedwig's cage which drove her mad and thew were all squaking like mad and Harry and I both got our hands bitten trying to get him out." He held up his index finger which had dried blood in a long line from the knuckle down to his wrist.

"Ouch." she said as she reached out and tenderly touched his finger. The blood dissappeared and there wasn't a cut there anymore.

"What the...?" Ron started and Crys look very surprised. She didn't speak.

"Crys, what did you do?"

"I...I don't know." she studdered, "I'll be right back." and she ran back to the three others pushing trolly behind them.

"Harry, can I talk to you?" she didn't want for an answer as she pulled him aside and turned him to face her.

"Let me see your finger." she said worriedly.

"Crys, it's just a cut, it's not that bad." he held it up and she reached out and wrapped her hand around his finger. When she pulled away it was just as clean as Ron's had been.

"How did you do that?" he asked her. She just looked at him with wide eyes.

"I have no idea." she said simply.

"Could it be the veela-charm?"

"It--" she paused and Harry looked at her puzzled but she just continued "must be," she all of a sudden looked scared, "You didn't tell Ron about that did you?"

"No." he assured her.

"Don't." she said, "I don't think it's a good idea if we tell him so soon. We'll just wait a little while."

"Yeah, I think you're right."

She smiled at him, "Thank you." she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

"We should get back before people start to think we're having an affair." Harry said as the started to walk back. Crys laughed.

"Duh! No one would-" Crys topped as they turned a corner. There was Ron.

Crys couldn't help but think_ maybe I should've used a shade lighter lip gloss today_ as she looked up at Harry's face and saw the small imprint she left that hadn't been visible in the shadows.

Ron just looked angry and stormed off towards platform 93/4.

"Ron, no!" Crys ran after him. He had already dissappered through the brick wall.

_Damn, _she thouht as a large crowd of muggles walked by. It must have been school children on a field trip because there was a lot of them and they kept coming. Harry caught up with her.

"Why-?" he started. She nodded anxiously at the group of kids that was graddually thinning out. He started looking just as anxious as her.

"How much do you think he heard?" Harry asked, still scanning all the children for the end of the line.

"I thought I heard footsteps somewhere around where we were talking about how we couldn't telll him yet. But it was definately after the veela thing. So he doesn't know what we're not telling him about. Your affair joke probably didn't help much either."

"There." he pointed, "The kids end there. It should only be another minute."

"Okay." she said.

"So you think he thinks that we're actually having an affair?"

"Yes." she said, "Well, look at the way you said it," she did a bad voice in impression of Harry that made him laugh." '_We should get back before people start to think we're having an affair.' _It sounds like you were joking around about the truth." He stopped laughing. The last of the children walked by.

"Finally," Crys said and they leaned up against the wall. After they were on the platform they saw Mrs. Weasley hugging Ginny by an empty trolly.

They ran up, "Where's Ron?" Harry asked her quickly.

"Is something wrong?" she suddenly looked worried.

"No, no," Crys suddenly smiled and Harry did the same, "We just have to tell him something important about the Cannons! They traded Bradley Pe-"

"Oh alright, dears." she said and pulled them into a tight hug, "He went onto the train a moment ago."

They started walking backwards towards the train.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you!" Crys yelled back to her.

"Yeah, thanks!" Harry yelled and they turned around only to run smack into Draco Malfoy.

Crys' eyes widened but she stood strong. Harry protectively grabbed her upper arm from behind her.

"Is that all the thanks you can give to the kind woman, Potter? Really, your manners could use some work."

"Your manners could do with some inproving as well, Draco. I don't remember hearing any thank you out of your mouth at all last week." She shuddered but only Harry noticed, because of his grip on her arm.

Draco paled and Crys pushed past him and Crabbe and Goyle. Harry kept his hand wrapped tightly around her forearm until they were both safely on the train. Neither of them spoke as they set off down the train looking in each compartment for Ron.

They found him in one at the very far end of the train. They saw through the glass door that he was staring out the window angrily.

"I'll go first." Harry said and without waiting for a response walked through the door and slid it shut in Crys' face. She was too worried to be angry.

She heard muffled words threw the door. And very few of them. Harry had hardly been in there a minute when she heard Ron stand up. She moved away from the door. Seconds later Harry came flying through the door, glass shards flying in every direction. Crys yelled a quick banishing charm and magically guided Harry down the long hallway of the train and lowered him onto the ground where there was no glass. She repaired the door and stormed into the compartment.

"What the hell was that!" she said anger flashing in her eyes.

"As if he didn't deserve it!" Ron yelled and sat down, equally as angry, and turned towrads the window, which he stared out determinedly.

"Why do you think he deserved that, Ron? What did he say to you?"

Ron didn't speak. Crys knelt down in front of him and slapped him hard across the face. He looked stunned.

"What did he say to you?"

"He said what I heard wasn't what it sounded like but then he wouldn't tell me what it really was, so I think that it is what it sounded like!"

"You think I'm having an afair with Harry?"

"Yes!"

"You're mad." she said calmly, "That must be it. You've simply lost your wit."

"I'm not mad, Crys! It's obvious! You two are always sneaking off together. You even told him what happed last week when you wouldn't tell me! And I'm the mad one!"

"You're mad. And your an idiot. And a jerk and a-"

"Stop it Crys. You're the one who's having an affair."

"I am not having an affair, Ron!"

"How do I know that? How do I know you're not lying, Crys. After all, you can be quite an actress when you want to be."

"Dammit, Ron! How the hell are you so blind? How can you not see it?"

"What are you talking about, Crys!"

"I love you! I'm so bloody in love with you, Ron. But you know what? I'm gonna leave, because you're right, I'm just acting, and I could never care about you."

Ron didn't speak. He stood up and grabbed Crys by her wrists. Her arms were folded and pressed against her chest as she stood, looking determinedly away from Ron.

"Are you lying to me?"

"Do you want me to get some Veritaserum?"

"No," Ron said, not hearing the sarcasm in her voice because it would be almost impossible and not at all legal to get some Veritaserum at the moment, "I want you to tell me the truth. All by yourself."

"I love you, Ron Weasley. Almost too much for words. But I'm starting to think that you either love me back or hate me to death because I cannot go near your best friend without you getting angry."

"Crys," his voice was suddenly quiet and hoarse, "I think I may love you back."

"Does it scare you to death?"

"Yes."

"Then you do."

She stood as high as she could on her tiptoes and kissed him. She could hardly reach, but after he got over the sudden shock of change of attitude he lifted her off of the ground so she could reach him properly and kissed her back. Harry smiled as he turned down the hallway and set off to find a new compartment. He settled on one with Dean and Ginny. Dean didn't seem too happy to accept him but he did, and that was a very long, awkward train ride.


	20. another loss or two

**Chapter twenty**

Again the months past quickly. It seemed forever since Christmas. There was only a week left until final exams and Hermione had started her frantic study sessions two weeks before. The last game of the Quidditch season was that day, Ravenclaw vs. Griffindor.

Ron sat in the captain's office after the game. They had lost the game. They had only won one game since he had become Captain, and that had been against Hufflepuff. Real acomplishment there. The only reason Griffindor had even made it to the championship game was because the Slytherin team had been caught cheating and disqualified. He angrily ran his hand through his hair. He sat down at his desk and laid his head down on top of all the enchanted diagrams he had drawn and fell slowly asleep.

Crys sat on the floor in the entrance hall waiting for Ron to come out of the locker rooms. She had been waiting for over an hour already.

She stood up and walked toward to Griffindor locker room. She slowly pushed the door open. It was empty. She found her way to the captain's office and stepped inside. Ron was asleep in his chair, his head on his arms on the desk. He kept mumbling in his sleep.

"Where is she?" Crys heard him say.

Crys walked over quietly and squatted down next to him. She put a hand on each shoulder and gently prodded him awake.

"Tell me now." he said sleepily as he was shaken awake.

"It's alright, Ron," she whispered, "We're fine. It's okay." she stroked his hair lazily with her index finger.

He bent his head and leaned his forehead aginst hers.

"As touching as this moment is," a voice came from the doorway to the office, "I beleive that I will have to break it up."

Ron shot up out of his chair knocking Crys down as he did. She sat, sprawled on the ground, not moving, her eyes wide at the hooded figure standing in the doorframe.

"Who are you?" Ron snarled.

With a flick of his wand Crys was bound with ropes that flew out of the tip of the hooded figure's wand and flung back into the corner. Ron heard her head hit the wall with a resounding _thud_ and her head drooped.

Ron turned an extreamly hateful gaze on him and whipped out his wand.

"You want a duel, do you?" the masked figure said, "Then we shall duel."

Crys awoke hours later, shivering, the back of her head sticky with blood. She tried to stand but there were ropes binding her arms and legs. She looked around for Ron, he was no where nearby. There was no one nearby. It was quiet.

She didn't dare yell for fear of a Death Eater nearby. What if nobody found her?

She rolled over with the ropes still restricting her and stood up. She hopped out of the office and into the corridor out side the locker room. She walked up to a nearby suit of armor.

"Er..." she whispered to it, "Could you be so kind as to cut the ropes off of my wrists?" she finished unsurely. The suit of armor moved and pulled its sword out of the sheath. It cut the ropes from her wrists leaving her free to untie her ankles.

"Thank you." she said and ran off down the hallway.

Turning the corner she ran into a worried looking Harry.

"Crys!" he exclaimed and took her by the shoulders, "Are you alright?"

"Yes! Where's Ron?" she loked around and tried to look past him, as if Ron was just hiding behind his friend.

"He's..." he started but didn't seem able to form words.

"He's what? He's what!" Crys' eyes were so wide with fear that Harry thought she may explode, "He's not..."

"No! No, he's alive. But barely. Nobody could find you we all thought you were..." he trailed off again and hugged her close.

She pulled back quickly, "Where is he, Harry?"

He turned and began to pull her by the wrist in the direction of the Hospital wing.

When they arrived she saw Ron in the same bed he had been in after he fell off of his broom. She ran to his side and saw that, once again, he was not concious. She put her head to his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Siddenly, he jerked awake.

He said one word before dropping into sleep again, "Zabini."


	21. misled redhead

**Chapter 21**

Crys ran from the Hospital Wing crying. Harry didn't follow her, he was still trying to process what Ron had said. _Zabini_, that's a Slytherin, isn't it?

Crys wiped away her false tears and headed across the school in search of Zabini. She found Blaise in a dark corner near the dungeons, looking at a piece of parchment. He shoved it into his pocket when he heard footsteps.

"Ah, Blaise," Crys said as she slowly walked towards him and began to stroke his cheek, "How good to see you."

_If she wanted to know where he was so bad why did she go off running when she saw him again?_ Harry thought as he sat in a chair by Ron's bedside. And all of a sudden it hit him; the veela-touch, what she did to escape the Malfoys, how angry she would be now, and he knew, that where he found Blaise Zabini, he would find Crys.

He ran out of the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey shouting something about being more careful around the patients behind him. He needed to find her before she did something stupid, but where would they be? Zabini was a Slytherin, the Dungeons. Harry walked as quickly and quietly as possible and he found what he was looking for.

He peered around a corner and saw Crystal pressing Blaise up against a wall, her head bent down and doing _something_ to his neck.

"So tell me, Blaise," she whispered, "Why did you do it? What caused you to do something so, courageous?"

Harry saw her fingers working their way down his back. He ran forward and seized her by her upper arms, pulling her away from the Slytherin. Harry quickly stunned Zabini with a _Stupefy!_ spell and spun Crys around.

"Look at me!" he snapped at her, "What the Hell do you think you are doing?"

"I was getting the truth." she said firmly.

"You were hurting yourself. You were hurting us all. Ron, mainly. Why would you do something like that? You know if he found out about that he'd be crushed."

"Or what about if he found out something like you sleeping with Hermione?" Harry flinched, "But don't worry, " she continued bitterly, "He already knows about you and Ginny. In fact he saw you, at the Burrow, but don't feel bad, it didn't crush him _too_ much."

Harry's eyes were wide, "But that wasn't anything serious. It was just..."

"Oh good. Then I can tell him that. I'm sure he'll find the fact that you were using his kid sister for _sex_ reassuring."

"I wasn't using her!" he practically yelled.

"Uh-huh," Crys said quietly, "and I wasn't using Zabini."

They tied Zabini up to a nearby suit of armor. He was still unconscious. They set off down the hallway in search of Dumbledore. There was an angry sting to the air and they didn't speak. Approaching a nearby corner they heard an angry voice ranting.

"...I heard Potter and your brother's girlfriend talking, Ginny. I know what you did while you were home on holiday. Did you really think you could hide this from me? You really think that you'd get away with this?" They heard a smacking sound and they saw Ginny's limp body fling backwards towards a wall. She sat up weakly without seeing Harry or Crys around the corner.

Dean's voice came again, "Now you stay here and think about what you did, Ginny, I'm going to go find your buddy."

Ginny whimpered, "Dean, no! Don't hurt him! It wasn't his fault! It was all mine. I pressured him into it!"

"I'm not going to believe anything you say." he said and stepped over her in the direction of Crys and Harry.

Harry shouted, "_Potrificus totalus_" and waved his wand at Dean.

Dean fell flat the same way Neville had in their first year, and they ran to Ginny's side. They each grabbed an arm and pulled her to her feet. She kept an arm over each of their shoulders and slowly limped to the hospital wing.

Ron was stunned. He couldn't beleive it. How? Dean? No. Dean was the quiet boy, the one who wouldn't hurt a fly. Not that Ron was comparing Ginny to a fly.

"Ron," Crys said quietly, "Are you okay?" She adjusted the blankets on his hospital bed, pulling the covers up and tucking them closer to him.

He just nodded, still in shock.

"Will you be okay for a minute?" she asked him, "I'm gonna go check on Ginny."

He nodded again.

She walked away and shut the curtains around his bed behind her. She walked to the next bed over. Ginny was lying asleep. Madam Pomfrey had healed her wounds from Dean but Crys could see scars from other times when Madam Pomfrey hadn't been around. Ginny's golden-red hair was flowing out on her pillow like spilled fire. Crys bent down and kissed her forehead in a motherly way before she adjusted the sheets the same way she had on Ron's bed. She turned quietly to go back to Ron but Ginny spoke.

"Don't go." she whispered.

Crys turned back towards her, "I won't," she said, "I thought you were sleeping."

"I was." Ginny stared at the white curtains around her bed intensely.

Crys sat down next to her and took her hand, "Are you going to be okay?"

"No." Ginny started to cry, "I love him. I love him, Crys. I love him more than anyone else I've ever loved. I don't think I'll ever stop loving him." The tears streamed down her cheeks and in the moonlight looked like streams of mercury. Crys hugged her tight and the curtains behind them, "And it's all my fault, too. I had to sleep with Harry, I had to ruin everything I had with Dean."

"Gin, it was already ruined." Crys said softly, "Look at yourself. That's not a good thing."

"But he loved me," Ginny said between sobs, "And I don't know if he ever will again."

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley screehed, "Oh, dear, are you all right?" She hadn't heard them speaking, thanks to the silencing charms on the curtains.

"Yes, Mum." she mumbled through her mother's tight grasp.

Crys slipped out throught the curtains so they could be alone. She walked over to Ron's bed. He was sitting up now. She walked over and he moved slightly to his left so she could sit next to him. She laid her head down on his shoulder and sighed.

He tried to lighten the mood, "So what're you doing this summer?" he asked. The summer was only two weeks away and he had already asked her to come stay with him.

She gulped. "Ron," she started cautiously.

"Yes?" there was a hint of worry in his voice.

"I...I'm...I think I'm going back to America this summer." she said quickly.

"Wh-what?" he pulled away to look at her.

"I know. I want to come stay with you at the Burrow this summer, but, " she was uncomfortable, "I haven't seen Steffie in a long time. Or Jenna. It's only two months. I'll be back before you know it. I'm going to buy an owl so we can write everyday."

He looked grave. She kissed him on the cheek and they slid down so they were lying on top of the covers together.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"Don't be." he said so hoarsely she could barely make it out.

"No. I am. I should have told you sooner." her head drooped tiredly.

Neither of them spoke. They slowly drifted to sleep, arms wrapped around each other.


	22. I'll need to take you shopping

"This is our last night." Ron said to Crys. They were both sitting on his bed across from each other, indian-style, their knees touching, the four burgundy curtains pulled closed on all sides.

"Don't say it like that." Crys said firmly, "I'll be back in two months. It won't be that long." but her voice didn't sound very reassured.

"I love you." he said looking right into her eyes, which widened the second he said it.

"You've-"

"I know." he cut her off, "Maybe I waited to long to tell you." he smiled.

She looked at her silver watch, "We've still got two hours until the feast."

"Want a challenge?" he said leaning in closer to her.

She leaned in as well, "Bring it on."

Their lips clashed together and she linked her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to her knees. She continued to lean into the kiss as she tried to remove her zip-up sweater. When it was finally pulled off of her, Ron laid his hands on her shoulders and drew them slowly down her back until they rested n her hips where he rythmically moved his thumbs in circles. Her lips parted and he pushed his tounge between them, inhaling the scent of lilac while he tasted her. She tried to pull off his too-small t-shirt. She kept tugging trying not to break away from him as she did. Eventually she became frustrated and pulled back.

He laughed and she jerkily pulled the shirt over his head. He reached over and pulled off her shirt as well and she attacked his neck. She slowly trailed her way down his neck and onto his bare chest. She continued to work her way down and heard him moan as she did this. She massaged his lower back with one hand as the other tried to undo the button on his jeans.

"No." he said loudly.

She pulled away, confused, and cast him a qustioning look.

"You do that every time and I get no chance." he said. Her look remained questioning but she smiled slightly. He pulled her up eye level with him and sat her down firmly.

"Brace yourself, Ms. Noramison." he smiled and took to her neck, unlatching her black bra as he did so.

"Where is Ron?" Mrs.Weasley asked frantically, "The feast starts in ten minutes and I haven't seen him in hours. Could he be sleeping? Harry, dear, could you go check?"

Harry nodded and ran up the stairs towards the Griffindor tower. He climbed through the portrait hole and looked around the Common Room. No one was there since the feast was about to begin. He ran up the boys' staircase and threw open the door. Ron was standing there, shirtless, watching something on his bed with a concerned look on his face. He didn't see Harry walk in.

Harry heard a voice come from Ron's bed, "Well I found your shirt," a shirt flew out from the four poster and landed on his head, "but no luck on my pants."

Harry laughed out loud. Ron turned, startled, and his ears went bright red.

"Harry?" Crys' voice came again, "That you?" her head popped out from Ron's bed and she smiled. She reached out and put a hand on Ron's shoulder to steady herself and she hopped out of the bed, wearing a only tight green t-shirt and black panties.

"Do you have clean jeans?" she asked Harry, looking around on the floor, "Can't find mine. Ron doesn't have any clean and there is no way I am wearing his dirty jeans." Harry laughed and went over to his trunk. He pulled out a worn pair of jeans.

"These are kind of small," he tossed them to her, "They might fit you." She pulled them on, hand still on Ron's shoulder. they hung low on her hips but stayed up.

"Okay, let's go." she said as she picked up her zip-up sweater off the corner of Ron's bed.

"Well, there you are. Late again!" Mrs. Weasley greeted Ron and Crys. She looked at Crys' jeans, "Remind me to take you shopping for jeans, Crystal, those do not fit properly."

Harry and Ron smiled and Crys nodded. They all headed into the Great Hall.

They took their seats in the chairs that Ginny and Hermione had saved for them. Ron sat in between Crys and his mother on one side of the table and Harry sat between Ginny and Hermione on the other. He looked a bit awkward. _Serves him right._ Ron thought.

They all ate their fill at the feast and everyone headed back to the tower except Ron and Crys, who stood alone in the freezing Entrance Hall.

Ron looked around awkwardly.

"I'll be back soon, Ron." Crys said sadly, "And now that I've got Aliana," she gestured to the black owl in the cage sitting on her trunk, "I'll write a letter every day and send them all at the end of the week."

"I know." he said, still looking around.

She put a hand under his chin and turned his face to look at her own.

"I love you." she whispered and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him softly on his lips.

"I love you too." he said

She zipped up her sweater and picked up Aliana's cage before putting a levitation charm on her trunk. She walked towards the front doors to the school slowly.

She turned around in the doorway.

"See you soon." she called, and was gone.

_Forty-nine days until Crys comes home._ Ron thought as he walked back to his Common Room, _Forty-nine days._


End file.
